Eternal war online
by Abdiel Amaro
Summary: Far different from a simple death game. Three hundred thousand players have been imprisioned inside a universe that knows no mercy. An universe where the line between reality and fiction is too thin. Welcome to Eternal War Online. Welcome to a far future where there is no peace among the stars, a grimdark future where there is only war.
1. Begginer

Hey guys, I'm back.

Well, this is not a new chapter of NWNG, it is a story you can find in Spanish in my other account: anderel amaro.

However, while I've been thinking this for a while I still will not fully start it. Im gonna finish first NWNG, which I don't think it will take more than 10 chapters.

Im also working in a muv luv and a tate no yuusha fics, both crossovers with warhammer 40k. oh, and I'm on goblin slayer too.

However, I will be really busy this week with work, so I wont be able to advance in no story.

I will leave his with you. Tell me what do you think. Don't worry, I will keep part of the original staff, but don't expect much romance here. There is no room for romance in the grim darkness of the far future.

[X]

_**Both Warhammer 40k and sword art online belong to their respective owners.**_

_**[X]**_

The television showed the news of a well-known videogame channel. Such a thing that had been almost lost for some years, but that had been reborn with a very ambitious project.

The Nervegear .

It seemed like a dream, and technically it was. Being able to immerse yourself in a world inside your mind, a world that did not have you tied to the rules of physics. Where one's dreams could come true. The potential of this new technology was almost unlimited.

"... with you the creator of NERVEgear and developer of the game 'Warhammer 40k: Eternal War Online.' Also called by many as EWO! Kayaba Akihiko!" The energetic voice of the presenter was heard as well as a series of applauses from the audience that was enthusiastic about the new project.

"Thank you very much." Kayaba answered by greeting the audience in a polite manner. "An honor to be here."

"Please explain to us why a drastic change in the development of the game was decided. Had not been originally planned to use SAO 2 to release the public?"

Kayaba smiled at the question and looked at the audience. "It is true. We had planned a base world using the same Cardinal system. But after the release of the nervegear a large number of companies also released their own titles. Originally SAO was unique in being the first of its kind. But as time passed we realized that if we wanted to compete in the market we had to renew ourselves."

"Hm, hm." The presenter nodded. "Certainly. Games like Call of Duty Dive or Final Fantasy 28 are sweeping right now. Even so, no one expected you to use a universe like Warhammer 40K. It's a bit bold, since Games Workshop has preferred to continue releasing RTS games or turn based."

Kayaba simply laughed and continued. "My friends at Games Workshop were simply a little concerned about the results of a game of this scale. It took me a while to convince them, but in the end I succeeded."

The presenter continued. "From what has been heard, the game will be able to support up to three hundred thousand players. It is not like this? Can you clarify these doubts?"

"Indeed. You can do it. We have included four factions: The Imperium of Mankind, chaos, Eldar and Tau. All of them with their own sub factions with only a few exceptions. Players will have a vast gallery to choose from as well as a vast space to explore."

The presenter raised a Pad and read the questions the channel used to allow its viewers. "Some fans are concerned about the addition of space marines and Adeptas Sororitas. They think they could unbalance the game. "

"The Adeptus Astartes, as well as other powerful classes will not be available to the player when they connect. Instead, it will be a limited number of only a thousand of them as well as three thousand for the Sororitas. These will be available by lot and may only be presented in this way." Kayaba answered with a smile.

"Are the rumors of the inquisitor class in the game true? If so, it would be a great disadvantage for casual players."

"There are four respective ultra-secret classes to one for each faction. But none can be obtained at the time of initiation. They must be won by the player from specific and very secret situations."

"Something that has caught the attention of the new EWO is its Akashic system . Which is said to be a complete technological innovation. Being able to play with so little time is a dream come true."

"In effect. The Akashic system not only gives an infinite number of missions and new events. Its main attraction is to extend the player's stay in the game. In our minds time can be relative, something that takes advantage of the Akashic system . You can experience ten times the time you spend in real life when you are in the game. One hour would become ten hours."

" Incredible!" the presenter Said. "I could not get a copy, it's a shame. But let's hope that new servers can be opened soon… "

He turned off the TV, it was time for the servers to start and he did not want to miss anything. In one hour he would be sailing on one of his biggest dreams.

Terrence Velmort took a look at the room where he had lived these nineteen years in an unimportant city over Texas. From the age of ten he had become interested in Warhammer 40K to such an extent that it was almost an obsession. He had studied the Lore and learned every paragraph of the book, it was said among the players from the local store that no one else knew more Warhammer 40k like him.

However, he had a problem.

And it was that he rarely won in a game.

It was not that he did not know the rules, after all he had recorded them in his mind. But for some reason the dice used to fail him in crucial events and he ended up taking too complex strategies which in the end ended up entangled him more and more. It was in the small games where he had presented more victories and because he had few units to command. But a game in apocalypse would be a nightmare for him..

That said, it had not diminished his love for lore and had become a kind of scholar who everyone asked when they wanted to remember something, or when some discussion of why Warhammer 40k beat almost all Sci Fi universes.

He did not really care about the world. After getting into a university, he had gone through high and low, but nothing different from a simple normal college student.

He looked at the Nervegear on the bed and could not help but let out a wide smile. He had won the game and the console with his own sweat and tears. He had worked part time and helped more than one in exchange for some cash. He had even painted some models by someone from time to time.

And finally here it was. It had been really lucky to get it. Sometimes he had come to think he would not get it, but he could not just give up, something could happen. And that something had come to him.

He take out his phone and marked a number. After a short time a well-known voice answered from the other side of the line.

"Hey Luke," said Terrence . "Ready?"

"As never before. Finally you decide on which class? You did not stop thinking about it in classes. "

He held willingly and answered. "crusader. That's what I decided. It's better for me. Few units to command and a personal variety of equipment and skills. By the way, thanks for the information. The beta tester is to have a big lead. "

"Nah , not so much. The game is based a lot on the Lore and I cannot make much progress. Nobody did it. "

"I see. Hey, by the way, what class are you going for ? "

"Mechanicus, baby! I cannot wait to put together one of those battle automatons."

"Heh, do not you have enough of that in Mechatronics?"

"Nothing I can shoot, unfortunately."

Both laughed for a while.

"Hey." Luke spoke. "The time is approaching, we better prepare."

"You're right. I 'll see you over there." He ended the call and threw his phone on the desk. He threw himself on the bed and looked towards the ceiling for the last time, on this was a poster of the God-Emperor of humanity.

He place his nervegear and after closing eyes breathed deeply once more.

"Link Start."

He pronounced the words to start the game. And multicolored lights sent him to a tunnel of light. He could feel a kind of vertigo sensation that disappeared in a short time. Once this ended, he could see before him a version of himself in the clothes of an Adept of the empire.

"Welcome to Warhammer 40k: Eternal War Online. Please write your profile name. "An artificial voice spoke welcomingly. Terrence had considered a profile name before entering, and with the holographic keyboard floating in front of him, he wrote.

"Welcome, Trevor Aigner. Please, choose a class in which you can forge your legend. Take into account that once you start this class you will not be able to change it unless you create another profile."

A large number of options appeared in front of him . He chose one at random and saw how his false image in front of him changed his clothes or his physical features. The image of an Eldar was shown in front of him, and although he took his time to appreciate it, he quickly changed to an Imperium option .

Several classes showed up before him. There were from imperial guards to knights and titans. He searched the entire menu more than three times but his hopes of finding an Adeptus Astartes faded when he found none. Then he went to the Ecclesiarchy section and was presented with three options: priest, Frateris militia and Crusader. He selected the crusader option and looked at its stats. It was mainly effective in close combat, but left much to be desired in distance combat. Even so he did not care much, if he could use a couple of gun servitors he could make up for that weakness.

Basic shell armor along with an iron sword and shield materialized around his body. On his waist was a four-shot drum gun and it looked much worn. It was the most basic equipment that could be given to a player who was just starting.

"Do you want to start the tutorial?"

Trevor accepted and an initial explanation appeared. With some images that floated around him. All changed and different came and went.

"The main objective in EWO is to defeat all the main segmentum bosses in the galaxy. Once you have achieved it, you can claim yourself as the champion. But this will not be easy. They are extremely powerful enemies that will not fall easily. As you go up in level may become stronger and control far more powerful items and NPC's.

Please remember that your data slate will be vital to you throughout the game. You can check your data, your level, your inventory, as well as a lot of useful things that will help you on your trip. "

The tutorial ended up showing some mechanics of the game as well as special information for him. He had already read the manual that came with the game, so he was not too misinformed about it.

Once it was ready he gave it to continue and again a golden light enveloped him. In a few seconds his vision changed and instead of that room he was in a kind of square.

As he looked around he realized they were in a city. It did not look like a hive city. Actually, in the distance he could see one. His Gothic style and large size really gave that atmosphere to which he was so accustomed. The view was certainly impressive. The blue-green sky with clouds that reflected the sunlight passed over him. In the distance he saw a huge spire, like a mountain with thousands of kilometers of height and that extended by a whole continent. Even if he looked so close, he was sure the distance had to cover hundreds of kilometers until he reached it.

More golden lights marked the arrival of more players. In the guide he had read about how factions would start their players in different places. He knew the Eldar would be in a Craftworld and the chaos in some hive. The Tau on the other hand would be starting in one of their outer septs depending if they belonged to the regular fire caste or if they belonged to the Farsight conclaves. He searched his map and his calendar and discovered that this world was called Prymha, located on the edge of the segmented pacificus, near the Segmentum Solar.

Ten thrones of gold had been given to him, each one equaling ten crowns of silver. Although it was not so bad, he knew he had to start leveling up as soon as possible. He knew he could buy some better equipment, but given his class as this probably was the first levels, he doubted being able to find better equipment than the stuff in this city, except for explosives and medical equipment.

"Hey!" A familiar voice greeted him. It was his old friend, Luke. He had chosen the Adeptus Mechanicus class and wore a fairly clean and new red tunic as well as just a little shirt on his back.

"Luke, good timing." Let's go to the hills for some prey.

"Agreed. We should also look for a way to get closer to that hive city. I'm sure we'll find a great variety of items there."

They left what was called the 'city of the beginnings' towards the hills where it was said that there were some beasts to be able to hunt.

[X]

María Allende, more correctly named in this game 'Mary' as she marked the name of her avatar. She had always considered discipline was the basis of success. Both her family and employees instilled such thoughts.

That was why she was now arranging the commissar cap that had come with her class. Her steel sword and autopistol were in order and she could see her uniform was impeccable.

The lore was something that had caught her attention since that time she had almost confiscated her son from his imperial guard models. The Codex had caught her attention and after reading a little more, she had secretly been starting to learn from them. And she had to admit that one of her dreams was to be able to incarnate that figure of command and order herself.

So when EWO had been announced she did not hesitated to try the Beta, because she had been one of the ten thousand that had achieved it. Shortly after getting used to the movement she was already commanding a regiment of imperial guards. The first born Vostroyans had been her main option from the beginning and had achieved several things within the beta.

While she was appreciating her sight on the windows reflecting it, someone called her. He looked like a man, someone young in the uniform of a Harakoni.

"Hey, are you a beta tester? Right?"

"What?"

The young man put his hands together in a kind of way to pray for something. "Please! Could you show me the basics? It's my first time in a game like this!"

The question was sudden, but it was not rude. The young man certainly did not have bad intentions, or so she hoped. Besides, from the way he held the automatic rifle, she was sure that his leg would be blown off.

"Hum, okay. But you must follow my instructions. I will not repeat it twice."

"Thank you. By the way, I'm Klein. "

"Mary. It's a pleasure, Klein. "

[X]

Klein could not believe his luck. After being rejected by dozens of girls he was thinking about giving up. He had decided to try his luck with this woman he had found while shuffling along. And certainly could not believe it had worked. And more Still, it was an beautiful mature woman, almost touching what would be a Milf.

"Stop wasting time! It is coming for you!"

A blow shook him from his thoughts and he remembered the shape of the Prymha boar that was going to try to attack him again.

"Aim well! Firm stance! Do not lose your cool or stop shooting until you're dead!"

The boar again turned and headed back towards him. He shot his automatic rifle trying to hurt the boar. But the shots were wrong, like a beginner shot from the hip but in the end the boar managed to connect a blow to his belly which sent him to the ground. His health bar went down to the orange area and was getting yellow. The boar moved away, perhaps because of its programming or because he no longer considered it a threat.

"What are you trying to do? Why didn't you aimed?" Mary asked when she saw Klein's beginner's attempt.

"I thought that some sight would appear as soon as I put my finger on the trigger but I did not see anything."

Mary simply sighed remembering that this was just a rookie. "This is not GGO. Here, there is no support sight or bullet trajectories. This is more real. You must aim to get results. "

She pulled out her solid ammunition gun and shot and killed a boar by hitting it in the skull. Then another, however, this time the bullet reached one of the hind legs and the boar fell while screaming, Mary put a bullet to end its misery. "The system tries to give all the possible reality to this game. If you do not aim properly you will not be able to hit anything, it's even in your stats. "

Klein nodded and adjusted the butt of his rifle over his shoulder and shot a boar placing five bullets in its torso killing it quickly. Klein jumped for joy when saw how he had finally avenged himself on the boar.

"All right. Although that boar was just a practice shot . Take out your data slate and check what you earned."

Klain nodded and pulled out his data slate. This was robust and with a screen covered with metal. It was the basic plate given to all the players. On the home screen there was a tab advertisement, Klain then touched it and on the screen appeared the words: wild boar Prymha LV2 eliminated, copper reward 8 scepters. EXP +12, 28 needed to level up.

"Really? He looked like a boss!" Klein exclaimed in surprise but rather looked more like a child who did not want to get up on a Saturday morning.

"He, he, he... there are things in warhammer 40k that would make that boar look like a cute piglet." Mary said as she approached one of the three Prymha boars that had died and pulled out one of her knives. She cut the flesh of the boar and cut a line through the flesh and skin. The corpse disappeared as if it were ashes that were scattered by the wind.

"Hey? The corpses do not fade away?" Klein asked curiously.

"No, corpses can stay until they rot or loot. Sometimes you can get useful items, but they all leave something. Like these boars, they will be good roast meat. "

"Ah, right. You can feel that you eat in these games and think that you are satisfied. It works in most games nowadays. "

"Yes, although you cannot spend your entire life with virtual food."

"I'm ready! Order a pizza, they will soon bring it." Klein said with a victory pose. Mary just smiled when she saw him giving a touch of humor.

"You can get certain items depending on the enemies you annihilate. These boars drop skin and flesh. The meat can be consumed to recover some health or relieve fatigue. The skin can be sold or processed to make clothes or useful objects."

Mary threw Klein a bundle of rolled up skin. This was still bloodstained, when Klein touched it, could not help dropping it. Mary laughed at the comic scene of the young man.

"You can make a case for your gun or your ammunition." She continued laughing as Klein lifted the skin. After all, he could not refuse a gift from a woman as beautiful as her.

"By the way, Klein. Where are you from? The system allows the communication of different languages."

"Oh, yes. Japan, nice to meet you," Klein said with a classic bow.

"Ara. And to think I can understand you perfectly. I'm from Mexico, by the way."

Klain was about to respond to the hand salutation that Mary was giving him, but he felt a very real pain in his belly. He felt as if someone had hit him with a baseball bat.

"Oh no. I forgot to tell you about the sensitive effects," Mary said with concern. "This game can present real sensations and make you think that you really hurt yourself. You must lower pain levels if you want to avoid feeling it."

Klein opened his data slate and looked for sensitive settings. However, he found something strange. He had found the buttons to change the variations of pain, taste, body sensitivity, smell, hearing, and more But there was no adjustment button. All were marked 100% with no way to change them.

"Hey, Mary. I know it sounds silly, but. How do I change the settings? "

She sighed again and got up. "It is there just below the characters'..." but was equally intrigued. They should be there, they were in the beta. They were a fairly common system and to which developers had prioritized. "I think... maybe it's a mistake. One that will cost the developers dearly. I bet they must be going crazy."

"Well, ah, I guess sprucing up later." Klein said with some nervousness on his face. "Well, I think I'll disconnect for now. But I'll come back later after lunch and a shower." He said again and opened the menu to search the logout button.

"The logout button is not here too." he said as he searched through the menu windows. Mary was a little annoyed, though not really against him.

"It's right there in the options window..." But she could not find it either. She browsed the menu for several minutes without any results. Klein was trying all sorts of things to try to disconnect himself from the game, even trying to take off his helmet.

It was when a golden light enveloped them both and transported them to the town square where they had arrived.

Thousands of players were gathered in the huge square. It was clear that they were bewildered and several asked what was happening. Mary tried to look around and found Klein who was close to her. They were both trying to find out what was going on, when something happened. The sky turned red and it seemed as if the blood escaped from the very clouds. Then the crimson liquid took shape and gave rise to a being. This was giant and imposing, but above all, richly decorated. His red tunic seemed to be made of ruby and the edges were bathed in gold. His face was that of a mask with a human face forged in diamond. He carried a book that floated around him tied with silver chains.

"Welcome all of you to Warhammer 40k Eternal War Online. I am the creator of this game. Kayaba Akihiko." Several players applauded or let hear 'cheers' towards the developer of this game. Mary, on the other hand, had a bad feeling about this, besides having job tomorrow.

"I appreciate that you are enjoying this game." He bowed and continued . "As some of you may have noticed, the logout button does not appear in the menu. This is not an error, I repeat, this is not an error. It's a unique feature in EWO. "

Mary raised an eyebrow at this news. Something was very wrong here. Several players were getting nervous, some of them tried to leave the square only to discover an energy field blocking their way.

"However, I must warn you. Losing all your health points, if the life bar reaches zero, then you will cease to exist forever. And if you are disconnected by force, the helmet will send a pulse of microwaves that will freeze your brains instantly. I have also deactivated the sensory regulation systems. Now you can really live in this universe just as you would in the real world."

Ok, Mary was really worried about that last one. She looked from one side to another looking for a potential enemy.

"Regrettably. One thousand three hundred and sixty-one people have died for disconnecting them from the game. This news has spread all over the world, "he said as he showed windows with multiple news marking them as terrible incidents.

"How is that possible?! It's a virtual reality helmet." Klein exclaimed clearly trying to deny reality.

"No ..." Mary answered. " he internal battery can certainly do that. The system releases radiation, it is slight, but if you increase the power, you would damage the equipment, even so, it would be enough to ..." She did not want to finish saying it.

"But do not worry." Kayaba's avatar continued. "There is a way out of this game."

He raised a finger, towards the sky as if pointing to a particular world and spoke." There are four great enemies in the galaxy. Defeat them all and freedom will be yours. Three of them can be attacked in the order you want, but in the end there will only be one in the segmentum Obscurus."

Mary could feel the skin bristle. She probably did not know all the Lore of warhammer 40k, but she knew there were enemies out there that were so scary that if they had been implemented here ... several players could end up going crazy.

"I'm sure you can find players from other factions on your trip. I have already given them the same news. I hope you can work together to finish this game. Finally, I left you a gift in your box items, see for yourselves."

Mary opened her box of items and found a hand mirror. It was a strange thing in fact, why a mirror?

It was then when a golden light began to surround several players, then many others, in seconds, she and all the others were covered with a golden light that illuminated the whole place.

Even though there were a lot of players in the place, one could easily choose an avatar of the genre they wanted. Although there were some restrictions for the classes, but even so, a lot of 'players' had chosen classes without gender restriction.

But even though more than half seemed to be players, that number dropped drastically. Showing more than one surprise

Mary stopped paying attention to her surroundings and looked at the glass. And to her surprise, the woman in her early twenties who had as avatar, had changed to her real version of 33 years. And certainly, also some parts of the body, her uniform seemed to have shrunk more , and she felt great pressure on her chest and hips.

"Mary?" she heard Klein's voice speak to her after. She turned met a young man who looked like the same Klein, but his lank hair had changed to a shorter and somewhat neglected.

This Klein was certainly surprised, not only by what had happened, but because in front of him was a caramel-colored skin beauty and certainly larger attributes than he had seen before. When he saw her, Klain tried to look away, clearly trying not to make a fool of himself in front of her.

"Klein?" She answered, recognizing the boy who had spoken to her.

Klain tried to pick up a little and concentrate on what was happening. How was it possible that they managed to retransmit their real faces? It is what he was wondering.

"It's the Scanner." Mary said. "The nervegear sends a high density reading device. That could read the features of your face. The question is, how did they managed to discover our measurements? "

"Well ..." Klein tried to say. "When they calibrated for us, they took many measures. Maybe they got it from there. "

Klain put his hands to his head in a clear tone of frustration. "Why? Why would someone do something like this?"

Mary pointed to the giant avatar that had stopped to watch the reactions of its now virtual prisoners. "We'll probably find out now."

"Surely you will ask yourselves 'Why?' 'Why Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the nervegear, sword art online and Eternal War Online would do something like this'." he paused for a moment while thinking about his words. "My goal is finally completed. Creating Sword Art Online was not enough. It was very small, very limited. Here, the possibilities are endless. Develop this universe to control it ... and now it's ready..."

Mary felt a deep anger develop within her, not only that, there was also fear. For a moment she thought about what would happen if she really died in this world, her children, her husband, her employees... in truth, everything here could end in an instant.

"Being the year 980 of the millennium 41. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Eternal War Online. Good luck players. "

After saying this, his body began to disintegrate, as if returning to be only blood, he returned to the sky from where he descended, vanishing in a short time.

Only silence reins the place. A stillness that looked like a balloon about to explode.

And it was a scream that generated the spark that started the panic.

Everyone shouted and claimed a being that had left them. Several were pushing each other; very soon stampede started that could kill dozens. Like a herd threatened by wolves, nobody knew what to do, nobody except for just a few.

"Klein, come with me!" Mary spoke as she took Klein's hand out of the square. Both ran as fast as they could, until they were finally close to the edge of the city.

"Klein, listen to me. We must go to the hive-city as soon as possible." She pointed to the colossal city that saw the skyline of a setting sun.

"Hey? what do you mean?" Klen asked in confussion.

Mary opened her map showing the outskirts of the city and what she had explored, which clearly was not much. She could have bought a map, but there was no time for that.

"This is not just a RPG. The resources are practically unlimited. In the beta some considered that a sector could supplement all the players until reaching level 100. The problem is that the enemies you face... are something different. Their stats are higher than most imperial players would have. And there are so many it is absurd.

"If we want to survive. We must level up as quickly as possible. But above all, get good weapons. And that hive-city is full of those weapons."

Mary kept her map and looked Klein in the eye. "Without weapons you will be lost. Let's go to the hive-city, it's our best option."

Klein was considering going. He did not doubt the current situation was a total emergency. However, still had something to do.

"I... well... you will see, I slept with my friends for a week in the street in line to get the game... they are still there, in the square. They must be clearly scared. I have to go for them."

"Then go and look for them . We must start as soon as possible, so make sure you get them here fast."

Klein nodded at her words and hurried back to the square. Mary checked her gun and sword and again thought of her family. She had to get out of this, not only for her, but for the people she loved.

Out of the corner of the eye something caught her attention. He was a boy, about sixteen years old. He was running along one of the roads to the nearest city, it was obvious that he knew about the game.

He was dressed as a commissar. His cap was fastened to his waist, it was not a complete violation of the rules, but it was probably to run without much trouble.

The boy ran in a hurry, until then from the rocks appeared a wolf. It was clearly blocking his way, marking him as its prey. The boy drew his sword and charged even more quickly. Direct to the beast. With a shout, he aimed the sword in a direct stab at the animal that ran for him with its jaws open and ready to attack.

The sword pierced the jaw of the wolf and with the force of the charge reached the neck and the column coming out the other side. The wolf collapsed from the deadly wound. The boy did not bother to look back and continued towards the city.

[X]

Adam Hevrem, or better known Adumael as written in his avatar could not explain what he was feeling. It was already a couple of hours since that Kayaba had announced that this was a death game and the only way to escape was to finish with four bosses of segmentum.

He could well be desperate for now to be unable to return to the real world. He could think that his life would end once his health bar reached zero.

But on the other hand he wondered. What was so good about going back to the real world? Back to the unfair job where it left nothing to him and he was being constantly humiliated by his boss? To return with that family that only treated him like a bank and in which he could no longer find comfort?

He looked at his hands again, which were holding an Astartes combat knife, which in the hands of a mortal would be as big as a sword. The blade was covered in blood, just like his hands.

And at his feet was the corpse of a mutant. What appeared to be the body of an 18-year-old was lying on the barren floor. His guts were on the outside and a large pool of blood was forming.

He did not remember exactly what had happened. Only this player had tried to steal something of what he had managed to hunt. He had found some gold coins and guns of poor quality, but weapons after all. Better than the improvised spears and clubs used by several players of chaos.

There was something that was not right. He knew he had definitely killed them, yet he did not remember how he had pulled out his guts, but he was sure that whatever he had done did not weigh him as any other person.

No, he could not feel something like guilt. Yes, he was intrigued, how could have done that and be so calm now?. Looked at the puddle that reflected his mirror self, saw a giant of black armor and demonic symbols including a wheel with eight points coming out of the center.

He saw his avatar, saw the chaos Space Marine.

He had been considerably lucky to log in and at the same time he could not believe that he was receiving the avatar of a Space Marine. After selecting it he had chosen chaos. It was not by simple attraction to all that evil that would attract an edgyboy, no, it was more curiosity, as if something called him to all that. Something more than just death and blood, something more than only destruction. There was 'something' in the chaos that called him.

His thoughts were cast aside by a voice he had never heard. When turning around he found three players of chaos. A cultist, a sorcerer and a Mechanicus Obscurus.

"Amazing view."

"An authentic sample of the blood god Khorne."

"A death worthy of art."

The three exclaimed as if appreciating what they had seen in front of their eyes. Adumael did not understand what these three were saying. They appreciated the way he had killed this person and even celebrated it.

"It Is incredible. Just as I had heard. You can really feel the real thing when you kill someone." the cultist Said while watching what was left of the dead player. "Hey buddy. You mind if loot that corpse?" Despite not getting an answer the cultist began to deprive the corpse of everything that was useful. There was a knife and a very poor quality gun with some bullets. The cultist also took away the old and ragged clothes. The body disintegrated in a pile of ashes that remained on the ground.

"Who are you?" Adumael finally asked as he could not understand what was happening. For a second he felt an air of danger over those three, but he remembered he was a space Marine, a demi-god. What could mere mortals do against him?

"We are just a group of Player Killers that were passing by" said the Chaos Sorcerer. "We could not help but appreciate your power to see how you killed that mutant. Actually space marines are as lethal as they say."

Adumael looked at his reflection in the blood. Truly, he saw a giant known as one of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy. His black armor adorned with the mark of chaos absolute and the marks of the dark gods.

It was true. He was a demi god. He was an Astartes.

"Hey." The sorcerer continued. "By chance you do not have a team? It turns out that we are looking for allies. And you are just what we need."

Adumael moved his head side a little and thought a while. In truth, if he could gather subjects to use them as cannon fodder he could survive this game of death in which he was locked up.

"It's fine. But first, I 'd like to know what the name of your team is."

The sorcerer smiled and showed his forearm which was tattooed with the image of a coffin that seemed to laugh in a bizarre form.

"We are laughing Coffin."

[X]

Koinnead passed through the palm of her hand two of her runes, two of the only three that had been given to her after choosing the path of the seer. They were the runes that used [immaterial blow] and [reinforce] these runes, made of wraithbone, were items given to all initiates in the path of the seer in the Eldar race and each had been designed for the initiates and therefore were delivered without any price.

However, after finishing the tutorials to use the runes she had decided to buy a new one. Runes were expensive, but she had made sure to use some of her family's fortune and buy hundreds of extra bonuses on jewelry. If she used her money well she could survive in this game for months in the real world, which would be equivalent to years here.

Of course, she did not intend to spend her whole life hidden in any room. She knew that if she did not start making money and forming influences, would not be able to survive much longer in this game of death.

She kept the third rune had bought well hidden in her clothes. It had cost more than 10 Vidrere jewels, a really exorbitant sum if you considered that this kind of jewelry was the third most valuable in the five-level monetary scale managed by this faction.

She remembered the tutorial to activate the runes. She must pronounce the name of the rune with it in her hand. A circle of magic would appear in front of her as the rune floated to release its power. She had been told that it was possible to use multiple runes and even use them without mentioning their names by activating them by telepathic means. But both skills required a very high level in which she was not yet.

Runes could be used indefinitely as long as they were not overloaded. Some may burn more quickly than others and merge ruining the spell. She had to be careful to use the ones she had obtained. Especially the third one. This had the spell [clairvoyance] and would allow her to detect all kinds of important or useful elements. You could use it to detect enemies or to find a hidden artifact. koinnead could even use it to spy on players and other things. It was a really interesting rune. For no reason should she lose it.

She saw a girl running through the hallways of the great hall. And knew that if this were a real spaceship world, that girl would be punished and locked in some cell to reflect on her behavior. But these NPCs would only come out with a warning about not running in the corridors. Therefore, it was possible that this young Eldar girl was a player.

When Ishe passed next to her, Koinnead spoke with a ton of strong and full authority to which she was accustomed.

"Hey you! Stop ! "

The girl was surprised by the sudden voice that had called her making her freeze where she was. She slowly turned her head until she faced the person who had spoken to her.

"Why are you running?" Said Koinnead. "You do not seem lost."

The girl was panting trying to catch her breath. For a moment she did not know what to do. She was being chased, that obviously could be seen. Especially when a couple of striking scorpions appeared from the same corridor where she had come from.

Both were unarmed, although that was relative when they were using their mandiblasters. One of them spoke.

"Silica- chan Why are you running? Did you consider what we had talked about?"

The girl - apparently named Silica - was now hiding behind Koinnead. As if trying to use her as a wall to escape from her persecutors. Koinnead, not being able to ignore this situation, and being unnecessarily involved in this problem, decided to find out what was happening.

"What are you looking for, scorpions?"

That caught their attention, one of them tilted to the head, trying in some way to measure the situation.

"Oh, a Warlock. You better not get involved in this. This is an issue that we should fix with that girl."

"I would not recommend you to do that," Koinnead said. "You know about our restriction in PK brings the most serious consequences if we kill each other. Do not want to have your souls devoured by Slaanesh, right? "

Both seemed doubtful. Then one of them continued. " Slaanesh? I have no idea what that is. But better for yourself to turn aside before this place gets ugly."

Koinnead sighed as she realized these two were just a couple of casuals who had only bought the game for fun. She resented the fact that someone did not really know the power of the Eldar or warhammer 40k.

"I'll only say it once. Stay away and avoid a confrontation before you both lose points alignment points"

The two striking scorpions exchanged glances and after a few moments both turned around and left.

"Well, I think you're safe now" Koinnead said. "Although I should ask why you were being chased by those guys. But first tell me, what is your name? I am Koinnead. "

The girl, though somewhat trembling, had enough strength to speak. "I'm Silica." She answered, though in a low tone still clearly heard.

"Silica- chan then?" Koinnead said. "Oh I'm sorry. I'm from Japan, so it comes as a habit of my country."

"I'm Japanese, too" Silica said, now showing a sincere smile. "Thank you very much for saving me. They are part of a clan that searches for rare items to sell them. I found this rune and now they want to force me into their clan. "

Silica raised her palm, on it there was a rune. This, unlike the ones Koinnead had seen in the store, was quite different. Not only the wraithbone was of great quality, the detail was beautiful and even had a jewel adorning it.

"Where did you get this?"

It was given to me by a clairvoyant to help him carry a wounded person with the healers. He gave me this as a token of appreciation.

Koinnead could not help feeling envious. A mission hidden in the craftworld, and that had escaped her hands almost made her want to go explore every corner of the ship.

"You'd better keep it with care. I do not know its effects, but try not to go around showing it to everyone."

"Eh... its effects said it is a rune capable of restoring the health of the carrier or all around in a range of ten meters."

That did call her attention, a rune like that had considerable value. There was no doubt that this girl would end up losing it, or worse still, losing her life.

"Ah ... it cannot be helped." Koinnead sighed as she saw the only option she had to help this girl. "come with me then. From now on you will be under my protection. If you want to avoid more incidents like this, then follow me."

"Uh... that's a bit..."

"Better for you to do as I told you. That is a rare rune and the runes only work with their bearer, so unless they kill you they will not get the rune any other way."

Silica seemed to tremble from head to toe when she heard that. She knew it was a death game, but she was so scared she felt nausea.

"Um... okay. I agree."

"A Wise choice. Come then, let me give you a little tour on the great Eldar Lore."

"Hey, Koinnead... can I ask you a favor?"

"Which one?"

"... can I... can I call you Koi nee-san?"

Koinnead blushed a little, but soon regained her composure. "Of course, if you do not mind if I call you Silica-chan. I only have one question for you. How is it that a girl like you bought a game specifically marked for adults?"

Silica laughed nervously as she played with the tips of her fingers.

[X]

He cleaned his pulse rifle again and made sure everything was in order. His blue fingers re armed the weapon, although it took a few minutes to do so.

He really appreciated that weapon. After all, he had finally gotten it after killing some snotlings that were haunting the forest. The captain suspected that an outbreak of orcs had left somewhere in the continent, so they were looking for them.

Now, with level 14, he could finally carry the common equipment of a warrior of the fire caste and could enjoy a greater survival rate as long as he knew where to hunt.

Jau'Nem pulled out his Datapad and checked his status. He lacked 93 experience points to level up, with a dozen snotlings he could reach level 15 and then get a sword.

He had chosen the Farsight enclaves instead of the regular Tau troops. It's not that he did not like them, but the versatility of hand-to-hand combat was better than just shooting. He knew he could not have many engineers of the earth caste, so he had to take care of his armor so as not to damage it too much.

He turned off his datapad and walked through the camp. There was an outpost in this place, already far from the barracks where he had arrived for the first time. The place was clean and tidy, the officers trained the recruits and several fire warriors kept busy doing their chores. This, of course, was part of the artificial intelligence that controlled them. Something really surprising.

However, there were fire warriors who were not doing the same as the others. One group in particular was sitting on some supply boxes. It was about seventeen of them, some spoke about their equipment, other new items they had bought, some ate and other more watching something on their Datapads.

Jau'Nem went to this team he was part of. It was a team because to reach clan rank they still needed to reach thirty members and another fifty to reach a guild.

" Jau, you finally got that pulse rifle you wanted so much." said one of them. Muk'eri, the member most senior among them and the team leader. With at level 18 could now use a fusion weapon in addition to his pulse rifle. He also carried behind him a curved sword in the form of a katana he had bought from a merchant.

"Yeah , that laser blaster was not as powerful as this. I could open an ork's head with this."

Muk'eri laughed and took out a stick that, after turning it, put it in his mouth and began to come out some smoke with the smell of coffee. He offered one, but Jau'Nem rejected it.

The group that was seeing the datapad began to laugh making more noise now. They were talking about something he did not understand very well due to their own laughs.

"Why so much scandal?"

"The new episode of the second season of No game No life." Said one of his commarades while trying to open a bag of chips. "Apparently, Kayaba set this game so we cannot send information. But you can download files from the internet."

They remembered everything Kayaba had said. The man who had locked them in this game. He had left them in shock and they did not know what to do. But Muk'eri had brought them forward and guided them. They were trying to gather as many solitary fire warriors as they could.

"I've seen the news and you're not going to like what's there. There are at least two deaths a week and it does not look like it's going to stop. In addition, the Akashic system is controlling the flow of time whenever access things happen more quickly and can collect everything you see. They say they are trying to find the bastard, but until now nobody has had any luck." He said while taking some fritters to his mouth.

Jau'Nem looked towards the hangar, there it was. The combat suit model XV8 crisis. He needed to at least reach level 35 to pilot one, but that was only the beginning. He wanted to get to pilot those huge XV104 suits. His passion for the Mechas made him want to reach the necessary level. But there was still a long way to go.

"Any new mission?" Asked Muk'eri .

"Wild orks . The NPC found a camp. Most are only gretchins and snotlings . But the path finders claimed to have discovered at least three Orks. It's an easy target as long as we can take them by surprise from a distance. Not everyone has improved their melee skills, so if we are going to do this we need to avoid being close."

"We take the Orks first and then we go for the gretchins. We left the snots for the last." Said the one who was finishing his fritters.

"Exactly." Muk'eri said. "Everyone has standard weapons already, with the pulse rifles we can finish them without much trouble."

Jau'Nem studied the map. The jungle was quite dense. So a withdrawal in case of danger could be difficult. However, it was a good opportunity to level up and get more items and money.

He took out his canteen and drank a good gulp of water. If they were going to attack, they had to do it during the night.


	2. Crusader

**Warhammer 40k and Sword Art Online belong to their respective owners.**

[X]

Only what was left of a camp is what he saw. Five houses made of folding walls of some plastic material stood in the area. A fifteen-meter watchtower that had served as an observation post that was already crumbling. How much had happened here? How long had it been abandoned? And why? Bandits could be an answer, but there were still things here.

Trevor shook from his thoughts. It was a game after all. The system had placed it here for some player to find. That was all. He just stayed in his place, guarding. The auspex that Luck had lent him presented no alarm. It was only low-level, but it was much better than just trusting his eyes and ears. He was a Crusader, he had no infiltration or detection skills, but it was better that way. Luck had tracking equipment, it was better for him to search the camp.

He wondered how much time had passed, perhaps only one month in the real world, but it had already been three hundred days here. Almost a year. About one thousand six hundred and two players had just died from the imperial faction, and the number was increasing. And the worst part is that they had not yet left the planet because they had no idea where the boss of this world was. Indeed, for that reason a meeting with high level players would be organized. One guy named Diabel had made the call, everyone would gather in the hive.

"Trevor." He called him. It was Luck himself who was back. His mechadendrites spun while dragging a sack with several things inside. Trevor got down from the hab-block without hurry, but not before taking a last look at the auspex.

"What did you find?"

Luck threw a heavy round object. He caught it and looked at it. It was a fragmentation grenade. There were more in the bag. Power cells, food rations, medical supplies ... it was a more or less useful loot. The cells could be sold to players of the imperial guard and medicines to doctors.

"Take." Luck threw a gun that he caught without problems. When he saw it closely, Trevor realized it was a las-pistol, a Kantrael pattern. It was a standard in the imperial guard, but it was much better than continuing to use a stub-gun.

"that's it?"

Luck smiled, or at least what his half machine face allowed him. "No. Come, I'll show you."

Both went to one of the houses, was the most greatest of all and had a folding door covering the entire wall, it rose using levers on the floor. Luck opened it and let him see what was inside. Trevor's eyes shone as he recognized what he saw.

"A Chimera chassis... is it still intact?"

"Yes, in part. It has the engine yet, but I need to refill it and Call a transport. I can't carry everything to the base. "

That reminded him of one of the qualities of the game. While others would simply store items in inventories, you needed a vault to store yours. What was usually fixed when acquiring a base and using help from the subfaction to which you belonged to ask for help to transport objects that are too heavy.

"What will you do with him?"

"I could sell it. But repairing it could give me several options. I could do a Basilisk with this and we would have good artillery support."

"First get someone to drive it. You can only recruit Skitarii."

"The Skitarii can also use vehicles, but we will use the others in the clan. We have nine guards."

Trevor looked back at the auspex. The radar was still. "What about that girl you sent to the forests of Timgeb." He asked the same. "You named her third in command. Do you think she can lead? I heard she has a slight case of PTSD "

"She has a good eye to detect problems. She is recognized in GGO. Despite the unrealistic performance of that game, it is said that she could kill anyone a thousand meters away. Yes, she is somewhat traumatized, but it seems she has no problem using weapons here. Or so she told me. "

"I hope you are right. I wouldn't like to be taking care of someone who can't shoot. That, and we have fourteen in the clan, we don't have the strength or resources to protect someone."

"Chill. I sent them only to hunt wild boar. She took two and her squads. There are twelve in total. "

"Twelve just to hunt wild boars?"

"Twelve to train. Timgeb is a good place to train explorers. In addition, we need more snipers. We are running out of them. Barol lost his entire squad last week in an ambush. And we had the majority of NPC snipers there."

"There are more and more bandits. And too many players are in the hive." Trevor kicked a rock in disgust. It crashed with a nearby wall causing an echo.

"What are you going to do… they are afraid. We haven't even found the boss of this world."

Trevor turned toward the entrance, pointing his laser gun. He had the auspex in his hand that vibrated because he had detected near life. He held the Kantrael model firmly, ready to pull the trigger.

"It's no use hiding. We know you are here."

For a few minutes there was no response. But Trevor kept aiming, he made a warning shot that hit the wall by vaporizing the material and leaving a hole.

"It's okay! It's okay! You win, I'm going out."

The air deformed showing a figure behind a translucent layer. Trevor instantly recognized the Camaleoline to realize that it was a camo layer, an advanced item and one you would not get so fast.

A girl appeared before them. She wore the dark black suit stuck to her body. Although there was also a brown leather coat over it. Probably to hide the suit. Trevor could not help but recognize the skull helmet that covered his face, although she lacked the equipment that would normally bring a Callidus Assassin. She took off her helmet and let see her face of young girl. Her brown hair was cut to the neck and had some marks on her cheeks which made her seem to have some kind of cat like appearance. She was small, short, around 1.60. She didn't look ready to attack. Anyone would have thought it could be a trap, but assassinorum agents don't use NPC.

"Identify yourself, Callidus." Trevor spoke while aiming. He knew what a Assassin was capable of, even if she was someone of low level. If she had blades he would prefer to stay away, for speed was the friend of any scion of the Officio Assessinorium.

"Well, I see you are informed, Crusader friend. I know someone who could sell you a good sword at a good price…"

"We are not interested." Trevor said sharply. "What are you looking for?"

The girl looked nervous, but he could assume it was a feint. But he didn't let fall for it. The las-pistol was still pointing at him.

"Well… I think it would be better to introduce myself. My virtual name is Argo. I am an information dealer. And I'm basically... looking for you. Well, if my sources are reliable, of course…"

"And could I know who sent you?" This time the one who spoke was Luck while preparing his weapons, ready to fire. No to the girl, but to anyone who might have arrived as well. The pillage was not normal, but after so much time trapped on this planet without able and/or without wanting to take more risky missions. Many had taken the path of thieves, even if their alignments changed. They were desperate.

"No one." she said. "Working alone. I am an information dealer. I take charge of gathering information and selling it. I swear I have no intention of doing anything to you. "

Trevor continued to aim at her, but after a few seconds he decided to lower his weapon. Luck followed suit, but he wouldn't let his guard down.

"I will believe in your word. And well? Why look for me? "

"My name is Argo. As I told you, I usually deal with information from different places. I have traveled the planet gathering all kinds of clues and tips, which, at a reasonable price, can be sold."

"I understand that you are looking for a Beta tester, but I am not one. However you are looking for me. If you were looking for my partner, I would understand."

Argo occupied a chair that was abandoned, graciously sat down and looked at them both before continuing.

"Beta testers there are many. I can get all detailed information of each area, monster or item around. The problem is that we have not faced even a fraction of what the galaxy has to offer. I plan to make a guide. But I don't know much about the warhammer 40k lore. That's why I need someone who knows all this to gather enough information. With this we can save more lives. You've seen it right? Every day there are dead people and we have no idea where to go."

Trevor said nothing, he knew she was right. If they continued like this they would never escape or return home. He and his clan had searched for days and never found anything. Luck had calculated that in a matter of another year, all resources for the players would end in this world and then everything would become chaos.

"Actually, if you want all that information, I don't think a single book is enough. There is too little to ignore. We are in one of the darkest and most conflicting universes of all fiction. There are things out there that I definitely don't want to find."

"Hey, something starts." Argo replied. "At least it can help."

A Valkyrie was heard outside. The engines roared while staying in the air. Four servitors went down. They were equipped with cranes and caterpillars instead of legs. They were entirely to deal with heavy loads. The four took the chassis outside and with the help of harnesses and chains secured the Valkyrie. Luck and Trevor went to the cargo compartment, Argo followed, because she didn't have the answer.

"It will be after the meeting." Trevor said loudly to overcome the noise of the engines. "I will see how to try to summarize it. But I cannot promise anything."

The Valkyrie raised before heading to the hive city.

[X]

She sit, it was cold Stone, nothing she would mean, there were times when she had slept on the mud and even so, this was far better than being in a trench all day.

It was a big place, colosseum like, this was supposed to be the place where leaders would reunite to decide what to do, and some whispers commented about some big news. There had been near a year in this death game, she knew in real world had just passed a month, but still, these 300 days had caused a tool over her and many more.

Things were getting bad, and if it was not resolved she would end having to execute traitors, and that was something she really would never want to do. She played with her commissar hat and let it hang from her belt.

Several players were around, rumors said there would be more than five thousand of the most advanced clans and guilds, even if one of the most advanced was the level 15, which would be she. In fact, all players of levels between 10 and 20 should be here.

She noticed a figure in the center of the arena. This was a crusader, behind him was his shield and his sword hanged from his waist. Behind him followed a servitor with a huge vox amplifier. The guy closed the mouthpiece.

"Greetings. I'm very grateful all of you came here. My name is Diabel and I like to refer to myself as a paladin."

There were some laughs; however, there were many players who only wished to be done with this and to get to the relevant info. Some even raised their voice. "Just stop joking and get to the point! I need to get back with my clan!"

"The main reason I called you here today is to make an announcement. We have two important news for you. The first, we have discovered the boss of this world." Diabel continued.

Silence fell over the place, some whispers being heard here and there. "Is he telling the true?" "It can't be" "hope it is not another joke."

Diabel then continued. "We found it in the ruins of Old Stomouch. Apparently, the boss is part of an endemic species named Kobul that used to inhabit this world. Investigating a little we found it is a nomadic primitive tribe that wanders from one place to other searching for new shelters and hunting grounds. They seem like very hostile to humans and even try to hunt travelers. They may have very limited technology, but their force still possess a treat not to mention their number surpass one hundred thousand individuals. "

"If they are nomads it makes sense." Mary said that for herself. The players around were having similar thoughts now.

"Of course, with those numbers it would be better to use artillery, unfortunately, no player have achieved that. I'd like to escape from this planet and get new opportunities to survive. Who is with me!"

Applauses were heard as whistles too. The mood had now changed, some hope was finally being shown here.

"However!" Diabel continued. "It won't be that easy. The kobul may have the intelligence of a Neanderthal but they are not stupid. They like to prepare ambushes near their encampments. We lost five squad of NPC for those tactics of theirs. If we want to win, we need to coordinate and form a powerful attack "

More cheers came from the crowd, some even exclaiming his name again and again.

"Fool ..." Mary murmured. "When you fight in an ambush the enemy has the advantage once you have felt in its trap. Better to send explorers and locate their emplacement to destroy them with heavy fire power."

Diabel kept talking. "The other news I want to share with you is this…" He held in front of him as scroll like tube, this had the seal of the imperium and an Aquila on it. "This ..." he raised his hand. "… Is a map. We found this in the lairs of one of those kobuls. It is a map about this solar system and shows the coordinates to reach the other two planets. One of them is a dead world scorched by the sun and other is a world devoid of life but rich in minerals, there is miner activity there but only made by servitors. But the most important thing we found is the location about one new planet three light years away. We don't have the name but if we defeat the boss of this world we will get the last fragment of this map to call for a ship and get out from this world!"

More cheering were heard and this time Mary's attention got caught. This was relevant info, resources were ending, she needed more to feed her clan and get them to the exit from this death game.

"Fine, we will divide in formations and start by- " Diabel tried to keep talking but a scream stopped him. it came from the lower seats, there, one guy was standing, he leaped again and again until reaching the arena with a difficult landing. Mary noticed his uniform, a Savlar chemdog, but its inhaler was not with him, so she could see his face with no problem. His hair was full of pikes like a cactus, looked short but of strong complexion and his autogun was an unknown pattern modified.

The guy pointed at himself while trying to look important. " My name is Kibau . And I want to say something. "He then pointed at the audience. "There are traitors here!"

People looked at each other, trying to understand.

"Idiot..." muttered Mary. "Saying that bullshit only will make things worse, we must face a boss and if the moral is down we are only going to get a massacred. Moreover, that word has a serious weight over imperials."

"Yeah! That is right, I'm talking about the beta testers! They knew from the beginning what is going on and went for the easy quest only to leave us with hard quest and unknown knowledge. I know you are there! That is why you must apologize for killing all those players, come here and give all your equipment and money so it can be used correctly."

"What is that bullshit?" Mary said. Meanwhile, many were talking each other's trying to figure what to do.

"What do you mean by that?" Somebody spoke. Behind him was a tech-priest with a vox caster attached to one of his mechadendrites. The one who had spoken was a crusader, his equipment was not advanced, so probably was under level 20

"It seems like you just want to get easy equipment." The crusader continued. "Tell me, if they give you their weapons what will it change? Will the dead return?"

Kibau was speechless, for he couldn't retort those words. However, his pride wouldn't let him go with no fight.

"What do you know ?!" He exclaimed. "You are a beta tester too, aren't you? I bet you got fun taking all the easy quest and earning levels fast!"

"I'm no beta tester." The crusader said. "However, I'm not egoist. If I can make sure my team returns in one piece after each mission that is enough for me. We are trapped in this death game, saying all that nonsense only will do things worse. You have no idea about what is waiting for us once we get out from this planet."

Kibau couldn't keep arguing. Words would not come at his help. The crusader was just making fun of him, only looking him lowly and believing he was better than him. That is what he thought, and slowly his hand made its way close to the Stub gun on his belt.

"Can I talk?" A deep voice was heard, from the public raised a giant. Clad in green armor, his scout armor revealing the marks of the sons of Vulkan. A salamander, an Adeptus Astartes. The scout space marine raised his hand, between his massive fingers there was a small book. "This is a guide written by beta testers. It is for free to pick it up. All of us had this info at our reach, and even so, many players died."

That was the last push, Kibau just turned and gone in silence knowing he couldn't keep arguing anymore.

"Well, lets continue…" Diabel said trying to retake the main topic. "This here is one of our generals." He pointed at Luck while talking. "He and his clan will be helping us with info and coordination's we will be dealing with…"

The meeting continued for some hours.

[X]

She just kept quiet for the duration of the meeting, Diabel had drawn up the plans of the attack with the help of that strange man-machine she had seen and several other commanders. She knew little about what was happening. What the hell was Astra Militarum? Why did the metal giants move away from the other players? What did Feth mean ?

So when it was announced that they should team up with other clan leaders to form companies, she found herself in great trouble. She had no team, of course, she had been offered to enter one more than once, after all, was an adept Sororitas, was more than obvious that anyone would want to have her on her team, however, it was the same reason which today she had decided to go to the meeting without armor and only with some clothes she had bought. Even so, she had not separated from her rapier she had received as a gift from a friend. Maybe it wasn't an power sword, but it was beautifully decorated with a white rounded pommel.

"Hey, you, the one with the white hood."

A voice called him. When she turned, he saw a young man in armor carrying a thick shield behind him. Next there was a young boy, probably more younger than her. He was dressed as a commissar with a sword attached to his waist.

"You're a sororita, right?"

The girl was surprised to understand that the young man had realized her identity. She tried to deny it, but before speaking, he spoke.

"It's for the Fleur de Liz on your cheek." He said.

She covered the tattoo that had been made in the temple for choosing to become a Sororita of the order of the silver shroud. It had seemed as a beautiful design and it combined well with her.

"You seem to be alone. Would you be interested in being part of our group? "Asked the young man again. "We need one more and your help would be great right now."

She didn't answer, it was as if she didn't want to see him in the eyes. She wasn't good at this, just as she knew something about the game and as much as she wanted to, war was not something of her preference. She had just entered this game out of curiosity, listening to more than a million worlds and the possibility of visiting beautiful places made her quite curious.

"If you want to participate in this, you must form a team. We are going to fight a cunning enemy and it would be a very bad idea to go solo." The young man insisted.

The truth was that she also wanted to escape from this world. Even if it meant returning to that empty life, she still missed her home. In addition to having a microwave around her head capable of frying her brain.

She nodded, which led the young man to smile and take out his own data slate. After pressing some commands the data slate of her vibrated. She had grown accustomed to using it, it was like a classic iPad, it showed the announcement and she accepted the request of alliance that appeared on her slate.

"Your name is... Asuna. Nice to meet you. "

She nodded and after saving her own data slate she walked away from the crowd.

[X]

The piece of bread was hard, designed to last for months without rotting. Just biting it resulted in a long and tired process. Even if she immersed it in water or milk, the engineering after the manufacture of this simple piece of bread would make it capable of even withstanding the rain. Even so, the taste was as simple as drinking water.

Still it was better than eating Soylens Viridians. While those had some flavor, she could not eat them again after seeing some servitors collecting waste and even dead animals to make them. Some players even said that it was also made of human corpses from the low world of the hive. She did not believed it so much, maybe just a story, however she does not want to believe it.

She bit the hard bread again struggling to tear off a piece. In front of her was food and drink, but she did not deign to touch them. Imperial players had fun while dancing and enjoying a party that the commissars had suggested to lift morale. But she felt oblivious to this whole celebration.

"Enjoying dinner?" She heard a familiar voice again, when she turned around she found the crusader who had invited her to her clan, even if he had spoken to her in a joking tone, she ignored it.

"I didn't come here to eat delicious things." She mentioned before returning to the process of tearing a piece of bread.

"You may be right, but after all we will soon fight in a battle in which we could die. Sitting down to wait for that death in such a miserable way will not be good or moral. "The crusader took a metal box from his bag and handed it to her. "Take it, Commissar Rations. It's good to eat a good dinner before each battle." He said as he pulled out a similar box and pressed a button to open it. Inside was a segmented food plate with different portions of food. Meat in a large space, steamed vegetables, spaghetti and sauce. There was even a thermo with recaf inside.

For a moment she wanted to return the box, but the growl of her stomach prevented it. She imitated the young man and opened the box, inside were pieces of fish and shrimp, rice and a fruit salad. The thermo also had a sweet and pleasant-tasting juice. When she tried the shrimp, she couldn't help but go for another and another and another. In a matter of minutes she had been so focused on the food that it had run out. She might feel a little sorry, but it was the first time in a long time since she had tried something she could taste so good even if these were military rations.

The crusader smiled when he saw her. "They are somewhat expensive but really worth it. The soylens are somewhat tasteless but sometimes they are useful when we are in wild land. You can also hunt, but you need to invest points in the kitchen to be able to give them good seasoning. "

She finished with each serving and finished all the juice inside the thermo. "It's not like I'm accepting my death. Still, thanks for the food."

She left, at no time had the hood removed, just left that place, the parties before the war. It didn't feel good there, it felt like a last supper for a prisoner on death row. That was the first reason she had decided to eat that bread and not the meat she had collected a few days ago. And that young man had shared his food with her, it seemed unfair to some extent, but not useless at all. That crusader was now her ally, for that reason she had to support him.

"What was his name anyway?" She asked herself. "Trevor or something?"

[X]

A shot flew at the speed of light as it vaporized the head of a deer. It takes good aim to hunt with a long-lass, the laser discharge would tear apart and burn the whole animal if it hit in the body. That is why it was always best to aim at the head. Sinon hung the rifle on her shoulder and got down from the tree to go for the prey she had caught. Two other guards did the same and stood behind her with their long-lass rifles also on her shoulder.

"Nice shot" said one of them. "A clean shot a hundred meters through thick foliage. We have been improving."

"More well alone Sinon has been." Said the guy next to her. "You still don't know how to kill a wild boar without cutting it in half.

"Shut up, that was only once."

"And the other times we ended up with burnt boar remains scattered all over the place, which attracted several wolves and we couldn't get down from the trees until kill them all."

"T-that was just a mistake. I was just trying and not wanting to press the trigger!" She tried to argue but the boy just laughed harder. Which made her more angry.

"Enough." Sinon said calmly. "Butch it, you know the process. I must know how the others are going." She walked away and pulled out her vox-transmitter, after a few minutes of decoding she finally adjusted the needed channel.

"Arrow one, Arrow two and three, confirm position and status. "

"This is Arrow Two, we have two deer ready to skin."

"This is Arrow Three, a fallen wild boar."

The six NPCs responded, even if it was differently she knew they were only AIs with an advanced level of intelligence, in a way they felt like real people, but there were patterns that distinguished them from any real person. One of these was the level of intelligence, the NPCs would be dense and somewhat monotonous as they were low-level, but as you found or raised them they began to act on their own and even improve themselves to some extent within the parameters of their levels.

The NPCs that were now training were level 14, the two players next to her would serve as a command squad, another member of her clan had stayed in the camp with the others to manage the flow of reports of the patrols on purpose as Another way to train them.

She could hardly believe she could be commanding almost half of her clan's guards, but she wondered if it was okay to focus them on being scouts. Of course, it was necessary to train them, but too many snipers gave instability to the balance of the formations, there would not be enough for a line of fire.

Even so she had to continue. Something told her they would need those snipers soon. Trevor had been insisting on a force of scouts to counter the Kobul and their traps. However, she knew that training NPC would take time. Maybe she could get specialized troops, but that cost experience points, something that none of them had the luxury of wasting so lightly.

How long had she been here? It was almost a year old and it still didn't seem close. The food was beginning to be scarce as well as the resources. Everything they had hunted would only serve for a few days before having to hunt again.

She felt her hand, she was trembling. "Not again." She muttered as she tried to calm down. It kept happening, every time she shot couldn't help being so nervous. Sinon did not understand why, but in this game she could not use a solid ammunition weapon without paralyzing. The trauma for that day was still on her mind. Here was so different from GGO, and the only weapons that could give her some comfort were those of energy like laser rifles, but she still couldn't shake her fear.

That's why she had spent everything she had on a long-lass rifle and tried to survive with it. At least until she found Luck and the others, they had helped her a lot, so she felt should pay them.

"We're done!" Shouted one of her teammates.

"Silence." She said. "Don't give your position to everyone, idiot."

These two, Amy and Freek, brothers. According to their versions they had bought the game and both had decided to share it. A pair of ratlings without many scruples. They were annoying, but very good shooters. Except when they were together, of course.

"Take things and take them to the camp." Sinon ordered. "I'll catch up later, pick up everything, we'll leave in an hour."

[X]

Eight hundred mortars lined up ready to fire along with the heavy weapons squadrons that had been called. They had cost too expensive but the advantage of using heavy weapons equipment was their mobility over artillery batteries. After all, no one had even been able to get a basilisk.

"We will take the exploration teams to the front, the heavy infantry behind them will take care of ending any hostile they find and mark. Mortars will be your shields. Once we finish with their ambushes we will send the sentinels to take their city. The sentinels will be accompanied by the other equipment left to surround the city and prevent anything from escaping while the mortars move to reposition themselves here." The man pointed over the map. "We will bomb them with saturation fire for three hours, after that we will go look for the boss and our exit ticket from this rock."

The leaders nodded to this plan, Smit Keele, one who said being a veteran of the French army had outlined this plan. His clan, _guillotines of the dawn_, had been famous in numerous confrontations with enemies and consequently in recent plans that involved countermeasures against the Kobols and their annoying ambushes.

"Remember." Continued Smit. "We will not be totally sure that the boss has died in the bombing. Most likely they have hideouts to cover, since this is their largest city, you are unlikely to try to escape underground. Remember, under no circumstances are any single player allowed to face the boss alone. If possible I would like to be able to finish it among all of us. However, keep in mind that you are risking your lives in this. This is no longer a game."

The tense atmosphere seemed to freeze, this was a sign that everyone understood what was happening.

"We must keep covered mortars, how many teams of heavy stubbers can be borrowed?"

"Just two hundred." Smit said . "And I will need a hundred of them to ride them on a safe passage line once inside the city. We can divide the specialists to keep the mortars covered. Unfortunately I cannot lend to the enginseers , they are vital for the sentinels . But I can leave some Astartes with the mortars. "

"We need the Astartes. We do not know how dangerous the Xenos can be once cornered. How about leaving squadrons with heavy stubbers behind? It really is the only thing we have left."

"Their firepower would be just a tickle if they attack us with their beasts. Leave me at least one squad of Sororitas."

"Five squads is the least I can lend. All the others will be in the first wave accompanying the Astartes."A sororita said.

"How many troops do we have in total?" Asked one of the officers.

Keele fixed his gaze on the table, for a few seconds he said nothing.

"... thirty-six thousand ... "

And nobody else did.

Thirty -six thousand, against one hundred thousand. Even if they were fighting a primitive species they could not assure it would be a victory. They knew what these Xenos were capable of, even with technology on their side, they couldn't be calm.

It was understandable to some extent. After all, not all imperial players had answered the call. Many had preferred to stay behind, waiting in the hive city where they felt more secure. Weak, in body and mind. Although after all, who could blame them? Death would be hovering on this battlefield. After all, it was said that there were approximately one hundred thousand imperial players.

"Good luck to all." Keele spoke . "And remember, the emperor protects." He said it more by raising morale, although religion was an empty subject for many, at this time they needed somehow to lift morale. Even if few understood it, they needed it. And everyone else responded.

"Ave imperator."

[X]

The golden statue of the god-emperor rested in the central area of the cathedral. An immense temple created to worship the imperial cult and show the power of the Ministorium.

It was known that players came and went, visiting this place and even getting to leave their prayers here. Religion was little, after all, the devotees of the God-emperor told their companions that it was the emperor himself who had created numerous religions around the real world.

Whether this is true or not, there were those who needed a guide, a support, some hope. It was natural, as human beings to seek the guidance of a superior being in times of distress was part of the human psyche. A quiet life would be enough to make them forget about faith, but the crisis would remind them.

And so there were players who, standing in front of the statue of the emperor or his saints, left their prayers and prayed for strength, gratitude, piety or liberation. For some, just praying would be useless, but for those who had endured so much it was a different story. Even more if they were about to face death.

Among them and at the same time away, a player also pay tribute to the emperor. His shield on his back and leaning with his sword, only one of his knees was resting on the ground while looking at the image of a saint of the Adepta Sororitas. A wall-sized paint. A beautiful woman with silver hair spread her wings over those she protected from hellish daemons trying to devour her. With a smile she looked at the innocent while her wings on fire tried to be devoured by daemons.

"I treat the path of righteousness. Though it be paved with broken glass I will walk it barefoot; though I cross rivers of fire, I will pass over them; though it wanders wide, the light of the emperor guides my steps."

Trevor recited the words he had read so many times. The ecclesiarcal sermons were able to fill one with strength in times of distress. In times like this, he had to find a way to avoid thinking about the death that came for him and for everyone.

He had been at that meeting with leaders of more high level. He hadn't interfered much, just providing information on key factors. However, after the discussions it was obvious that things were not going well.

Only a few players really knew about tactics and military experience in real life. Which was useful, however, this experience could not be shared among all players, few knew about the lore and few knew what to do.

Of course, not everything was lost, some knew about close combat, maybe partly supported by other games like SAO or ALO. But they were too generic or unreal to handle a real melee. Many had to be trained just to use bayonets.

In short, they were newbies in this. Which meant that once the shots began to fly then things could get out of control even before taking a decisive blow to the enemy. Allied fire, trauma for constant bombing and even death. He was sure that more than one would die tomorrow, he just hoped that none of his teammates were in that number.

Steps were heard behind him, power armor's combat boots. When he turned around, he realized that it was a sororita, her orange hair reminded him of her name.

"Asuna?"

She nodded, smiled a little. Despite her melancholic face this looked refreshing in her. Her silver armor shone in the candlelight. Trevor wondered why she hadn't changed the color of her hair, she hadn't even cut it. She had picked it up with tweezers with tufts falling in front of her ears. But the Fleur de Liz's tattoo was still on her cheek.

"Trevor… it's been a while. How have you been?"

He could not say that he was good, not with a battle and a very possible death in a miserable place. But he couldn't lie to her either and say there was no problem. He felt that her question was more a greeting, a way of looking for a conversation.

"To be honest. I can't act as if everything was great. After all, tomorrow we will march to war. It is natural that we are all nervous. "

" Yes, about that..." Asuna said as she looked into his eyes. "I would like to ask you a favor. I would like you to train me, to tell me how I should do things…"

Trevor saw her uncomfortably. "Asuna… we talked about it a few days ago. You don't need to risk your life in this. Many Sororitas refused to participate, I can understand them. But what you ask me is to train you in something that could end up killing you."

"I know, but still. I can no longer stay being protected and treated like a porcelain piece just to be preserved and observed. I don't want to be a doll anymore."

"Do you understand that if you sign they will send you to the forefront of the attack, right?"

"yes."

"And yet you are willing to accept it. In the vanguard you will receive the full weight of the attack, they will send you to kill the enemy to be able to give the step to others. You will not be able to go back, much less run. Because if you do, those who go after you will die. "

"I get it. Even so, I want to move on. "

Trevor sighed. "Imperatoris sacrum. Et orate pro anima sua."

Asuna blinked. "Do you speak Latin?"

"High Gothic... yes, a form of Latin."

She smiled. "Tum autem, magister"

[X]

"Let's see, what kind of weapons you carry." Trevor said. Now they were outdoors, just outside the hive city. A shooting range used by his clan. In the distance they saw white charred wood.

She took out the weapons she carried in her person. A combat shotgun model Arbiter III lawbringer. A low quality flamethrower gun and a steel sword designed to stab.

"Both are basic weapons, but it really intrigues me that you haven't got a better weapon. You said you were at level 14, didn't you? "

"I think so, I really don't understand this system much. Cardinal was simple, here the way to level up is somewhat complex." Asuna said.

"Here when you level up you unlock skills and specializations that you can choose and improve on your own by training them. In the same way you can level up only by training, but it is a long process and which requires patience. The advantage is that it is more secure." Continued Trevor. "However, to do this you must spend your Mastery points sharing them with what you do. For example, the points you get when hunting may increase more favorably in some tracking skill. "

Asuna tried to understand everything he had said, but she couldn't be sure, SAO and ALO were the only games she knew. Places of fantasy and adventure. Warhammer, on the other hand, was only darkness and misery, a constant struggle to survive.

"Try to hit something with that shotgun." Trevor said. "Take your time and do it as you usually would . This will be to evaluate you."

Asuna nodded and pointed to one of the targets more nearby. It had already been used, a dummy of metal burned and worn by its constant use. She fired, the recoil of the weapon was considerably softened by the strength of her armor. The mannequin received a new brand in one of its arms. A second shot hit it in the belly. Leaving more dents.

She pointed to another target, one further away. The shot was completely off and the second barely touched the leg.

"Ok, that's enough." Trevor said. "Your aim is very bad, even with a shotgun. I would recommend that you train more on it, but we have very little time. So let's move on to the following." He said as he drew his sword and raised his shield. "Let's see how you are doing in close combat."

Asuna withdrew her weapons and with enthusiasm unsheathed her sword. Her sword was thin, a rapier, a steel blade that had been improved, its cut or its resistance, Trevor did not know but did not expect to find out once wounded.

She didn't wait for his indication. Like an arrow launched against Trevor in an attempt to stab his shoulder. Her confidence increased when she took her sword, she had been considered one of the best in SAO and ALO. Part of the tournaments she had won was testimony to that. And her addiction to the sword kept her from holding back, if she had wanted to avoid hurting her trainer, it was already late.

But nevertheless, her sword met a shield, which with a twist and a certain Angle moved the sword to the side. Trevor took a turn, the centrifugal force began at his feet and ended in his right arm, straight to his sword. This led her to take a deadly turn, the edge of the blade was straight for her. Only the skill gained from her previous experience allowed her to return it to avoid the blow. Even so, the blade of her sword was thin, not designed to block, and against Trevor's sword, which was thick and hard, she felt her hands tremble from the impact.

Moving his legs Trevor attacked again using his shield like a mace to hit. A strong clank was heard caused by the armor and shield collision that wobbled Asuna .

"This is not SAO." Trevor said. "Do not expect a light or some kind of special attack to arise just by swinging your sword from side to side. This is real, every hit has an action and reaction. You hoped you could knock me down with that lunge, right? Don't expect the system to do the work for you."

Trevor carried his sword high and low against Asuna. In a desperate attempt she raised her arms, she knew her sword would break. But the blade of his opponent did not cut it, instead, it was contained by the armor of the forearms of her armor. She pushed hard overcoming Trevor's onslaught. This was repelled by not being able to win against a power armor.

She attacked again, trying to encircle his shield which moved from side to side covering every angle that could cause her any harm. Trevor's defense was impeccable, every time she tried to hit he put on his shield, every time she tried to make a feint, he stayed like a rock using the sword as a defense as well.

"Use your armor." Trevor said. "You don't use a power armor for anything. You have greater advantage over several other players. Try using your head."

She nodded, paused for a moment and then kicked Trevor's shield hard. The force of the kick driven by the armor's servos drove him back. It was clear that the coup had not been done with mastery, but still had left a dent on the shield.

"Good." Trevor spoke with shortness of breath. "A sororita is one of the strongest warriors in the Imperium. Only surpassed by the Skitarii and space marines. Remember that."

She nodded again and pounced on Trevor again. The force of her armor allowed her to strike a powerful lunge against the tower shield, but he did the same thing he had done the first time. Waiting for the same bow and the same attack, she prepared to kick him once he turned around, there, she threw her heavy boot against Trevor being sure she would knock him down.

But nevertheless, Trevor did not repeat the attack, instead, he made a slight feint and returned his shield to its place. Asuna still doesn't care, she did let go her leg knowing that she could knock him down with her strength.

But something she didn't expect happened, Trevor forcefully lowered the shield that had a point under it sinking it into the ground and held it with his shoulder. The kick hit the shield fully, abolishing it and making the metal creak. But Trevor did not stop, as a phalanx of Spartans contained the attack with his shoulder causing even his feet to recede a few centimeters.

"I guess I won't have to teach you how to fight in melee." Trevor said withdrawing his weapons.

Asuna smiled and did the same. "you are very good. How did you learn to fight like this? Were you an SAO player?"

"No, but I have fought against numerous enemies in this world. It has been a different situation, but not far from yours."

"I haven't done much of that. Mastery points and training have allowed me to level up. I've hunted beasts and monsters, but I never went for bandits or heretics." She said when she showed a melancholy smile. "Well, I went once for an alleged murderer who was guilty of killing at least a dozen people. I kept track of him for a while, until I finally found him... but when I had him cornered he fought with nails and teeth. He swore he preferred to die rather than face arbitrators. It was a tough fight... for me it was. He manage to knock me down, and when he was about to stab me with a dagger, I hit him. I did it for pure instinct, my intention was only push him away..." Her voice began to crack, as if trying to contain the blame carrying inside. "…H-he hit a wall, the blow sent him more than two meters flying. I had thought he had hit his head... until I saw him... h-his temple... he had a ... a hole. That is where I had hit him…"

Her hands were shaking, it wasn't too much, but even so, he couldn't deny the fact that this experience had left her marked. "Excuse me ..." she said as she tried to control herself. "I didn't want to show you this side of me..."

"I've done it too." Trevor said interrupting Asuna who had remained silent.

"He was a murderer ... a possible heretic and Cultist who was gathering sacrifices." He looked into the distance as he spoke. Remembering it as if it had only been a few days ago. "The bastard carried a newborn. He was trying to take it underground, to the underhive . One of my comrades was with me. We cornered him, we had him right where we wanted…" He pressed his fists until his fingers were white. "But we made a mistake, we forgot that this was not a game… I take out a dagger… I was about to stab the baby by threatening to do it if we didn't let him escape. By some miracle he turned around, he was less than two meters away from me... I didn't think about it... I pounced towards the guy... At first I thought he would kill the infant, but he didn't. Just before my sword stuck in his chest he turned around, he didn't have time to react anymore."

Trevor took her hand to the golden Aquila hanging from his chest, his fingers grasping tightly. "But he didn't die there... no... the damn bastard didn't give up. He was trying to nail the dagger even if his strength was already a non-existent case... I handed to my gun... and shoot him... right in the face. His right eye burst through the fire at close range and half of his skull came off. It was fast, the difference is that you made it less painful."

Asuna has remained silent for a moment, trying to digest the words of Trevor. "I don't know if you tried to make me feel better saying that. But the truth is I still feel bad."

"At least you're not trembling anymore." Trevor replied. Asuna realized that her hands were no longer shaking, she was tense, but it was bearable.

"I guess you're right," she said smiling slightly. "So ... do you think I will survive?"

Trevor did not speak for a while, instead he walked to his backpack that hung from a tree. After checking it for a moment, he toke out a weapon from it. It was a gun, big, bulky. The cannon was massively large to belong to any personal weapon you'd find in the real world.

Trevor returned with it to her. "With your gear? Of course not." He said as he presented the weapon to her. "A Ceres pattern bolt pistol. It's .75 caliber and probably the only one you'll find in this world."

She hesitated a little, she wasn't sure how to use it, but Trevor insisted. When she held it, she noticed how light it was to use it with her armor." Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better with you?" She asked again.

"Bah, my class doesn't allow me more than las-guns. Take it, it will be better for you, you don't have to aim so far if you use it next to your sword, in addition, with the helmet of your armor you can use it better."

"Thank you, I suppose." she said.

"Oh, take this too." Trevor handed her four more magazines of bolter rounds. "Use them well."

"What do I do if I run out of ammo?" She asked.

Trevor turned around. "What anyone would do, continue. Even if your ammo runs out use it to pound your enemy, even if your sword is split use your fists to break through and even if your arms perish use your teeth until they are broken. And even when all that is reduced if at least a part of your body can move, use it to fight. "

"Is it so necessary to go that far?" Asuna asked again.

"it is. Because on the battlefield, the enemy is willing to do the same."

[X]

War was a bloody, brutal, hopeless thing. Battles always left dead, no matter how you saw it, there were always losers in wars.

But the absolute law of war was that there were simply no rules.

No matter what method you use, the goal is and always would be to eliminate your enemy.

The mortars opened fire early in the morning. Eight hundred mortars fired, each drawing arcs in the sky with their standard fragmentation shells.

The ruined city was huge. According to local history, Stomouch had been a great city founded more than three thousand years ago. But it had been destroyed by a small attack by Orks who had come here in some strange way.

The orks had been defeated and all traces of spores green skin burnt. Some players had discovered this and spread rumors of wild Orks hovering around the wilderness.

Buildings were reduced to dust, fire in the streets consumed them all. The bombing, despite being with light mortars, turned an already abandoned place into a ruined city, nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Anyone would think that an assault in the city would no longer be necessary, this was simply more than necessary. Hundreds of mortar shells exploding in the air and filling the streets with shrapnel. More than one could not help feeling relieved to think that this would be extremely easy.

A saturation bombardment could last for hours in the real world. But in the sinister future, it was known that they could last for days, months, or even years ...

However, this was not the case here. After all, this world did not have so many resources to fuel the growing imperial fire. Only three hours were Allowed for the time of mortar fire. After all, they needed to cover the Allied forces in case they encountered heavy resistance or needed to eliminate a Kobul burrowed. It was similar to the operations used in Vietnam decades ago.

[X]

Myriem had spent these last days considering her bad luck.

She had chosen the heavy infantry class. Particularly the sub class of specialists. This one in particular was different from the standard because they could use heavy weapons that usually had to be deployed and redeployed each time they made some maneuver. Myriem's squad loaded with a heavy machine gun with 20mm rounds. There were three, one carried and fired the heavy weapon, while another fed it with ammunition. She was in charge of commanding them and offering coverage if necessary. While the gunner was a juicy target for the enemy, the charger would be too. She had to protect the rearguard and eliminate hostile targets that would try to surround them.

She wondered where her group would be right now. There were only nine, with about twelve NPCs in total. Most were middle infantry and apart from it there was only another heavy weapons team, and this was behind them in the artillery lines with their mortars.

Despite possessing the heavy infantry class, Myriem and her team wore a standard Flak armor. It was made of some very low quality plastic material, she supposed it should be ceramic with some iron plate underneath. Very few had obtained a ceramite armor, possibly the commanders of the highest rank, even the weapons were already very rare to obtain.

She checked the ammunition in her autogun. It was from a local pattern, she had bought it because it was better than having her old stubber and she had no longer enough for a laser rifle. As the latter had risen exponentially in price because several were resold by players who had found them first. She had heard of autoguns similar to coilguns with a projectile speed even better than a las-gun. Hers was a simple one, with lead ammunition and solid powder charge that gave it a better power somewhat greater than a common real-world rifle.

The real world.

She shook those ideas from her head. Yes, she missed her family and her parents. She wanted more than anything to return with them. But she also had to consider that right now they were attacking a city that could well remain full of enemies.

Mike, one of her NPCs and her squad's gunner, had finally reached the room she had secured a few minutes ago. It was one of the few buildings that remained standing, at least in part, but the third floor was still relatively intact. It was a good place to place a machine gun to cut off the enemy and at the same time offer cover fire.

She saw the street, almost cleared by the continuous bombing. Imperial guards followed multiple giants in armor. The legendary Astartes. Although most were explorers, they were still fearsome warriors. Near them were sisters of battle, cleaning the way with heavy machine guns of similar caliber similar to hers. Most of the scout Astartes carried huge shotguns which she was sure could not lift.

The Astartes entered the rooms still intact to clean them of any kobul that was still alive. The idea of the bombing seemed to have worked, as several hidden kobul for their ambushes had died thanks to the explosions and those that remained were too isolated to offer resistance.

An Astartes shot at one of the creatures that moved towards the street trying to escape. The thick caliber cartridge shattered its torso spreading its pieces around.

A Sororitas stabbed another with her sword letting the armor block the stone spear. This fell to the ground moaning in pain, the same blade of the sword pierced its heart and with this terminated its life.

With what was seen down there, Myriem could finally see the creatures. They were ugly, bodies as tall as those of a child, but their faces reminded him of those of a rabid dog. Their fur were reddish with various tribal paintings. They wore armor, probably leather.

She noticed how three of those beasts came out of the ruins of a house, behind the spearhead and right next to a squad of imperial guards. These instead were different. They carried bronze armor and in their hands masses with metal balls on the tips of wooden stick.

She thought about leaving it to the guards, after all they had already seen them and were shooting at them. One of the kobuls fell to the ground bleeding from the numerous bullets in his body. The other two charged in an attempt to avenge their fallen comrade.

It was funny, these creatures were primitive. They would die, because there was no need to think that a firearm could beat a caveman.

But that idea was shattered in moments. Like the explosion she heard at that time.

It was sideways, but she was sure that the kobul had gotten too close to the imperial guard and after hitting it with its mass it had exploded. And with the explosion it had taken the imperial guard in a suicide attack. Meat and guts covered a woman who had been nearby. Her skin was covered with the blood of her ally and she was screaming while trying to get pieces of bone off her.

Mike opened fire, killing two other creatures heading for another of the semi-destroyed alleys. Bullets of thick caliber literally split them into pieces. The viscera flew everywhere as well as the limbs. She aimed and fired, another kobul had fallen, one that had left the side of its position behind a destroyed house. The heavy stubber couldn't cover such an open angle, so it was better for her to handle it.

She pulled out and threw a grenade at the same place from which it came the kobul. She knew could be wasting grenades, but it was better to make sure there were no more surprises. The action was worth it as hearing howls of death from behind the building proving they had died.

"Squad T24 to leaders squads." She said on her vox-transmitter. "Hostile presence on the sides, they remain hidden. I suggest take care of your backs and secure the areas where they are close even if you have to slow down the assault."

Several approval responses returned. And several explosives were thrown into possible hiding places of the enemy. Several kobul were killed in this way, many of them actually carrying explosives.

Mike opened fire with the heavy stubber. Heavy rounds went through more kobul and ended up with one of their beasts. This was a Morgel, animal similar to a buffalo but with an elongated muzzle and full of fangs as well as six limbs that made it from its legs. The plates of his body were shells that they created naturally. She had seen how it was able to withstand the fire of las-guns. But against a heavy stubber it shredded it like paper.

The shells tore the beast, also killing the kobul that took refuge behind it. Mike stopped firing to allow Peit to reload the weapon. He removed the empty drum and introduced a new one with a load of fifty shots.

"T24 squad. Redeploy two hundred meters ahead." The commander announced by vox.

"Understood." She replied.

She hated that, repositioning. It was dangerous because with a heavy weapon they became slow. At least she was grateful that there were still allies around if there were any kobul left behind.

They passed through the ruins of a cabin. The rubble of rockrete scattered everywhere made their gait even slower. She noticed how her squad was moving a little away from the assault group. She supposed they should go back, it was dangerous here.

Her thoughts were interrupted, by an explosion she hear behind her.

And when she turned around she only knew what that meant.

Mike was there, or rather what was left. A kobul had hit him with a full explosive mass in his face. Meat, bones and viscera had flown everywhere. There was also something else there. A morgel, who was chewing on her other NPC who was obviously lifeless among its jaws.

Myriem fired, killing a pair of kobuls that approached her with rusty axes. Another more came by her side, carrying a stone tipped spear. The sharp rock was directed towards her chest, but the armor had managed to deflect the attack. She emptied the half load she had left, turning it into a strainer.

She quickly took out the magazine and tried to insert a new one. She had to hurry, there could be more of those bastards nearby. She didn't regret for her NPCs, if they were players, she would certainly be disturbed, but the fact that these were just simple AI's of the game, she knew she could simply recruit others. But still she had to kill the morgel if she wanted to get out of here alive.

She felt a stabbing pain in her belly. And when she looked, noticed with horror how an arrowhead pierced her stomach, right in one of the grooves of her armor.

She turned to see her attacker, it was a kobul , but this one wore a different outfit. A set of leather armor with cooked metal plates. In on his hands a kind of crossbow created with what looked like scrap metal.

But that was not the only thing different from that kobul.

It was bigger, it reached two meters high. She had been informed of this subspecies but they doubted they would find them so soon. The crossbow it carried was huge, just like the arrow that looked more like a spear. The kobul pulled a spear from its quiver and reloaded its crossbow.

She ran. Terrified, she screamed for help waiting for some ally to help her. But when two imperial guards were attracted by the noise, one of them was hit by the spear, the projectile had shattered his face taking away the body with tremendous force. The other guard raised his autogun and fired, but the rounds didn't seem to stop the kobul.

The monster pulled a huge ax from behind his back and with a movement of his arm split the guard in two. Half of his body flew and when this fell he was caught by the morgel that came behind to get fed up with his flesh.

The great kobul looked at that guard who was running trying to get away from him. Reloaded a new spear and aimed.

Myriem ran, ran with all her might. She had seen the spear go inches from her and kill that guard who had heard her, she didn't know if they were players, she didn't care. She only knew she had to escape from there. She knew that if they didn't make it, she would end up dead in a miserable and tragic way. Her tears fell to the floor behind her, she didn't understand all this. Why did this have to happen? Why did they have to die in a damn death game? She just wanted to go home, hug her mother and her brother. See her father working in the workshop. She just wanted to have a calm and normal life again, a life where she didn't have to escape death.

She screamed. She screamed for her curse, for her family. She cursed Kayaba, she cursed him with every drop of her soul.

Definitely. This day was definitely a day of bad luck.

A spear pierced the neck of Myriem killing her instantly. Her screams stopped dead.

The huge kobul stood proudly before its new victim. This one was a hunter, something that would be considered a noble in his race. It had killed hundreds of prey and was sure that would find many more in this battle, after all, they had prepared a surprise for these humans.

A sound was heard, like a thick dry branch as it split. This was followed by another, then another and other more. Dozens of laser fire discharges bathed it, lasbolts capable of blowing a limb or bursting the torso of an adult man. Even if its body was resistant, this was not immune.

The power of the laser rifle was something to take into account. At a low level, they would make a hole in a person's body by burning internal organs and causing extremely painful internal burns. A head shot was lethal, even if the size of the hole was that of a thumb, the brain would instantly boil. But at a high level it could cut off a leg of an adult man or vaporize his chest if he didn't wear proper armor.

But that was not what gave it its effectiveness.

While it was a powerful anti-personnel weapon, counting the many enemies of man in the galaxy would not be enough. An Ork could withstand several shots before this died, a space marine wouldn't even flinch under the fire of a squad of las-rifles.

No, what it was about fearing a las-rifle was its effectiveness when used in mass. Line after line of imperial guards pointing, the energy accumulating through all those volleys. With enough las-rifles, even an Astartes could die.

And in front of the great kobul, this firepower of dozens of laser rifles was simply overkill. Its blood boiled instantly, its organs exploded inside and its skin became a piece of charred meat.

Its body fell to its knees, the flames consumed the fat in its muscles. A short time later the same volleys of laser fire incinerated the morgel whose animal instinct yelled at it to escape.

A kobul saw all this and could not help but leaving his explosive mass to escape the enemy. But a sword was waiting for it. She pierced its belly from side to side.

The kobul looked up, to see who had taken its life. And met the face of a commissar, her gaze full of hatred and disgust for the same creature which had pierced with her sword.

"Damned Xeno." She said, raising a las-pistol and finishing it skull.

"Good hit, Commissar." She heard the young man's familiar voice.

"Klein." She began. "Take an NPC squad and secure the flanks. It doesn't matter if you waste grenades, but clear up with all possible hiding places."

He obeyed, and took ten guards who went with him. Mary turned to see her group. They were a clan of fourteen, and had more than sixty NPCs, including those that had been carried out. She had ordered them to move forward together, but not too much to be eliminated by mass fire. The kobul were weak, but their tactics earned them some imperial deaths.

That's right, she had learned it badly. They had lost a full squad with a player for the reason of underestimating the greater kobuls that used to be well protected for several lesser and smaller kobul.

That is why they had preferred to slow down to sweep the zones. She wished they had flamethrowers.

An explosion, probably from a grenade, came out of what was left of an alley. And at the same time several dozen kobul escaping. Her men saw them and opened fire in orderly and disciplined shots, just as she had taught them. Another explosion was heard and more dozens of kobuls had been discovered by Klein.

She really wanted to have some flamethrowers.

[X]

Guess who is back.

I'd already considered in finishing this chapter. I had been working on it in little intervals and as seeing how it was almost 10k words then I decided to finish it and translate it.

Things have been moved here. I'm currently taking lessons on enginery and have little time. But I have spared some to keep writhing. There is also the reason of keep looking for a job. Things are pretty rough here at Mexico. Violence, and corruption, the normal things…

Anyway, after this I will go back to NWNG. I'm still thinking on uploading the experiences of Albedo inside the warp. As I said, things get very crazy with Slaanesh and I'm sure Albedo may end enjoying them at some point.

As some may have already read my one shot of rising of the lord inquisitor. I'm currently I'm already working on a full chapter. Still it is not a full project and even if ends like that, I don't plan on making it long.

Ok, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Put some reviews to tell me what do you think.


	3. First taste of blood and loss

**Warhammer 40K and SAO belong to their respective owners.**

[X]

The room was small, cold, dark. With panels of light that showed data in a dim spectral light that barely gave a few centimeters of illumination. Many would find a place like this uncomfortable, even disturbing. Dim lights of old screens. Rusty metal parts and smell of iron that mixes with oil. Without forgetting the hum of the equipment due to the distortion, they were old communication equipment, so old that some would say they dated back hundreds of years.

Even so, they knew it was just a programming, a simulation to create a sinister environment. But even if it was nothing more than binary codes, why did it feel so real? Because of the electrical impulses of the brain? What did the 'real' really means then?

But it was not time for existential questions. No, it was time for war. A moment to decide your survival in this simulation.

"Squadrons of Astartes have penetrated to the center of the city. Sororitas teams behind them aid with effective support. "

One of the players who had stayed as commanders to organize the assault said.

"Imperial Guard troops have been deployed correctly. Heavy weapons teams have managed to offer good coverage. Although we have lost some in the process."

Spoke another commander, this in charge of the mechanized forces. "Sentinels teams are about to enter the city. Artillery is bombing enemy groups located by scouts and Sentinels. "

"Boss signals?" this time I ask Smit Keele, commander in chief in this operation.

"So far none." Replied a tech-priest. "We believe it is good hidden among the ruins. But it dares not to show itself."

"Then we'll get it out." Smit replied. At the same time he approached the holomap which they used as a reference, and the only holographic map in this world. "If it is within the city, then it must be somewhere that can withstand such a bombardment." He pointed to a place on the map. "And the only possible place is this temple of the ecclesiarchy."

"But that place." The first replied "they are only ruins, and it has already been destroyed by the bombing."

"Don't quite." Keele, answered to the commander. "The records of this planet shows this was one of the main temples in the world. Of more than twelve square kilometers in its best days. Such a large temple must surely have catacombs where the priests buried their dead. Even more if this was also a torture chamber for heretics."

"We will place demolition charges on the surface at different intervals. We will throw NPC on these and their combined fire will bring out the beast." Smit continued while placing marks and new points of light on the hologram.

"But sending NPC there would be suicide for these. They have no chance if they don't have a tactical field command to guide them."

"They can shoot," Keele replied. "That's enough."

"Do you plan on using NPCs as cannon fodder?" One of the commanders responded indignantly.

"We can send them, or we can send players. What would you prefer? Beings without soul or feelings, or living beings that are tied to a game where death decides their destinies?"

She did not say anything.

[X]

It had been exactly one hour, forty-six minutes and eleven seconds since the assault had begun. This was how Luck had measured it after noticing how the flow of the assault now changed. It had become somehow different from an assault on a city, a battle of guerrillas. From time to time packs of enemies appeared ambushing squadrons or fire teams. More than one had fallen in this way, but little by little they had managed to adapt and thus the casualties had decreased exponentially.

Luck spoke in Lingua Tecnis, a squeak of binary codes crossed through the air. These were captured by the only servitor that had gotten as NPC. The latter was a common model, with a clumsy and simple programming. He would have to be ordering it to do everything instead or having a pattern of protocols to follow in case of eventualities he may encounter.

His skin and flesh were pale, as pale as the limbs of a corpse. He moved awkwardly dragging his feet, the rubble almost made it fall, but it wasn't too much trouble, he was getting used to it.

Yes, it was an ordinary model, almost bordering on scrap metal. But that was not what made it a useful option for Luck. But it were its heavy Twin-linked heavy stubber that had replaced one of its arms and a hydraulic clamp that made its left forearm.

Luck was not a frontline fighter, that job would be for others. No, his specialty was to use automatons that would take all the punishment from the front while they were eaten away by enemy fire. Even if he could only use servitors, he had chosen to create one and use the leftover resources of the other to which he had access to create a heavy remote fire support unit. He had also installed an auspex.

He launched a wireless command and the servitor stopped, turned right and opened fire.

A Kobul behind a wall made a shriek just like a pig when it died while a burst of heavy 20mm fire teared it in half. After verifying that there was no other enemy in a range of twenty-five meters, it let them approach.

"Nothing, just scrap to melt into armor." Said a voice returning from looting the corpse of the kobul.

"Leave the looting for later, Sena." He spoke to the desperado who was returning.

"If we don't plunder them now then other clans will." She said after cleaning her knife and returning it to its sheath. "It's not like we're stealing or anything. Besides that it is a good opportunity to search resources."

Sena, Luck frowned as he remembered her name. Part of his clan, recruited by himself. A good decision from a certain point of view. Desperados were effective in looting and obtaining items easier than other players, they could be good 'all rounders' and could provide support easier. The disadvantage, they lacked a certain ability to create new items, which could be resolved with a tech-priest. Thing for which Luck had chosen her.

Sena dropped into a squatting position showing the contour of certain of her curves. Luck didn't know if this was a habit or just a way to distract his attention so he wouldn't scold her anymore. He didn't understand her, a Japanese girl who claimed to be a student, but who had combined her 'Gyaru' style with her avatar and now wore blonde hair with pink tips and a tan skin tone with makeup.

Her clothes, although quite revealing, offered the necessary protection to survive a firefight. A light leather armor protected her torso, while ceramic plates on glued denim pants took care of wounds on her legs. A skirt that didn't even reach the middle of her thighs intoned her outfit, even if there was no need to wear one, as she wore pants. Luck had wondered more than once how she had done so that her armor was contoured to the shape of her amply chest.

In her clothes were ornaments, miniature skulls made of key chains, painted fangs that she had taken from the beasts she had killed, even her earrings were golden Aquilas. She had not yet unlocked the ability to create purity seals, but the girl already had one attached to her lasrifle and to her crossbow that was on her back. More than once had told him how good she is with her hands.

But the other reason she had squatted was to dig up something that had caught her attention. Without worrying about damaging her blue-painted nails, she took out an object from the rubble that had been discovered thanks to a mortar that had fallen.

"Hey Luck." She said. "Do you know why I like going on missions with you?" she asked in a joyous and cheerful tone.

"Apart from liking joking with me, I don't see the reason." He replied with his mechanical voice.

She let see what she had found. It was a grenade, Luck wondered if it wasn't trivial. He had already seen many frag grenades. But it wasn't if not until he closely observed that it was really another pattern, one that they hadn't found anywhere else on the planet.

"A Krak grenade." He said.

"It's because your name is lucky." She said with a giggle and eyes closed.

It was an interesting discovery. This world lacked enormously weapons that could be powerful according to the lore. Even lasrifles were limited. But even so, a Krak grenade was somewhat ephemeral. Who said one could win a battle?

He was about to say that when Sena jumped to continue clearing debris after turning to the place where she had found the grenade. A few minutes passed before she found a box of the Astra Militarum, opening it they found dozens of Krak grenades.

Sena laughed again. "Yep, exactly by your name."

[X]

The sword felt in a powerful blow. The blood flew like a crimson death fountain. An alien head rolled down the floor as the body collapsed. A bone Mace hit him on the shield and he responded with a lunge through the heart of the xeno.

Trevor turned again to meet another enemy going for him, blocking with his shield again. He pivoted the sword and cut the sternum of another kobul and the shield crushed the head of another filthy alien.

The horde did not stop. More and more Xenos pounced on them. Beasts were also approaching, as well as hunters looking for prey to add to their offal.

Such was the reality on the front. Blood, viscera, death and pain. Courage, honor, fury and will. Both sides looked alike on this battlefield.

But he was not alone. Beside him, an Astartes with a huge hammer of pure iron hit with enormous force, completely crushing the skull of one of the enemy's beasts of war. The green armor warrior moved his arm, and a powerful blow split a kobul in two.

Beyond there was a Sororitas, she moved her spear of pure metal in wide arches. Stabbing and slicing every unclean creature that dares to approach her. A hunter went after her, ax in hand. The xeno connected the blow first, the battle sister's armor did its job, and the oxidized metal simply could not stand against ceramite. She pivoted and attacked, the tip of the spear pierced the alien's skull killing it instantly.

More came, and more died. The vanguard consisted of more than a thousand players composed mostly of Astartes and Sororitas. The Astartes could not have NPC unless they are specialists, just like the Sororitas. Unless they spent huge amounts of resources, money, experience points and mastery points, only then, they could get an NPC.

But for now, a thousand of these warriors were enough. And among them were also those who had managed to be worthy of being at the forefront.

Trevor looked up, looking for some familiar face or for a casualty. The Astartes were super soldiers, only one of them would be similar or even fairly surpass a hundred imperial guards. The Sororitas were not far behind, their armor, their weapons and their devotion demonstrated the will of the reason for this battle.

He searched and searched, there had been no casualties, at least none that he could see. The vanguard had been chosen carefully, consisting only of the best players. But of course, that did not ensure that they would be invincible. Much less here.

He heard something behind him, and turn to raise his shield. But it was not necessary, a sword had pierced the neck of the hunter who had tried to go after him. After the beast fell, he realized his ally. Diabel shook his sword to remove excess of blood.

"I owe you one." Trevor said.

Diabel just smiled. "During my days at SAO, I gained a great deal of experience with the sword and the shield." Again he turned spliting a Kobul in two. "These creatures are like fighting goblins."

"Don't get so full yourself..." was all Trevor said when he raised his shield trying to protect them both. This time he took a different posture, nailed the shield coldly on the ground and prepared his legs at an angle to resist an onslaught.

It was loud, but not to the point of being like a battle cannon. However, even so it had been powerful enough to make both of them fly a couple of meters to one side and land without so much grace. It took a few seconds to regain balance and dizziness. He got up and tried to locate the place where he had flown away. Only to find a corpse torn from another suicide kobul.

More Xenos were carrying more explosives. However they were ceased by the fire of the autocannon of one of the Astartes.

"We have already advanced enough! Where is that damn boss?! " the voice of a battle sister roared.

She was right, they were already inside the area where they had considered to be the boss of this world. Diabel himself had led them here. Through the fire and the steel they had made a bloody path.

But they hadn't found anything.

"Should be here. The bastard has to be here!" Angrily exclaimed one of the members of Diabel's clan. The Astartes hit a wall, knocking it down as if it were nothing more than a sandcastle. His crimson armor and the blood-colored tear-shaped jewel highlighted his fury even more.

"Maybe it is hidden." Asuna suggested while cleaning her Rapier with an already used and dirty cloth.

"Where?" it was the words of other Sororita that put aside her theory. "We have the perimeter surrounded, we have made sure to create a cord destroying each building preventing anything from happening. Where could it have hidden?"

A few steps away, a commissar had been listening to the communicator. A dark tone perched on his gaze upon hearing the orders. He looked at the two NPCs he had achieved, a man and a woman armed with lasrifles. Level 14 each.

He walked to where the discussion was taking place, and speak.

"Commando has an idea of where the boss can be." He said in a serious tone. "They have ordered us to use our NPCs to locate it in the catacombs below us." The following words left a bitter taste in his mouth. "Using the NPC monitoring their positions. With this we can triangulate where the boss will be. "

"What they want is basically to use them as bait and use their deaths as marks." Diabel said studying his words. "That would be the summary of that plan. It's not a bad idea, but sacrificing NPC… it won't be so easy to replace them once this is over."

"I don't like the idea." Said one of the battle sisters. "They are NPC, but I've seen some get too attached to them. Many will not like the idea."

"They are only NPC, artificial intelligences without a life of their own." Spat the Astartes of the bloody angels chapter. "Also, if we don't capture and kill the boss we will get stuck in this miserable world with no chance of survival."

The Astartes was right, Trevor knew very well. But that didn't seem to convince some much. The commissar who had given them the news was also upset of such an order, as if he did not want to lose friends he had made not so long ago.

However, he couldn't say it was immoral. They were just artificial programs after all. Commands only. Actually, the main concern would be how to replace them. They cost money and time after all.

"We must do it." Diabel said. "All who have NPC, equip them and make them descend. The others will be on the lookout."

Several obeyed the orders and lowered their NPCs, but some took their time to say goodbye to them. Among them was a certain commissar who was giving the last items assembling them for battle. Trevor saw how he delivered high quality equipment, extra Flak armor, extra energy cells, as well as grenades that you would only give to a player.

"Is everything okay Kazuto?" asked Trevor concerned. He had also called this junior commissioner by his real name instead of his player name. It was something he felt necessary because they were in the middle of a war zone.

The boy turned around, gave him a smile and returned to continue equipping his imperial guards.

"It seems that you send them with serious firepower." Trevor said. "Giving them all that equipment can be dangerous, not only if they die, they also become fat targets for scavengers."

For a long minute Kazuto did not speak. When he felt they were ready, he finally said something.

"Their names are Kain and Linn." He said softly. "From the 2264th of Cadia. I recruited them a couple of months after arriving here."

"At first I just wanted to recruit one. But it was when I noticed that they were both married that I decided to work a little more and gather enough to get them."

Trevor noticed the two rings that adorned each other's hands. "The chances of them finding the boss first are few. They won't be the only ones going down there. " He said trying to cheer him up. "As soon as they detect it, we will enter quickly. It's better to risking lives."

He was slow to respond, but finally nodded. "You're right... It's better that way... maybe they really won't find anything."

"Everything ready here!" Spoke a voice. It was Diabel who called them, apparently they had already placed the charges.

The junior commissar looked at them one last time. "Good luck." He told them, and let them go. Both NPCs nodded, it was their programming, because for them it was like receiving an order.

[X]

"Surround it! Surround it! "

"I need ammunition!"

"Doctor!"

"Oh my God…!"

Screams, curses and rumbles of numerous firearms echoed from side to side of the ground. The rumbling of heavy weapons flooded the place, as did the incessant firing of small arms and lasers.

They had finally found the beast.

Huge, as big as a dreadnought. The Xeno was a mass of muscles that moved with the closest to an Eldar. The bullets could barely hurt the muscle masses and only the laser weapons seemed to do some damage.

What was worse, of all the Kobul they had found, this was the only one capable of using firearms, and at the same time the most lethal seen.

His arm had been replaced by a cannon. A rudimentary tool that you could find in the underhive. But it was easy to load and devastating at medium distance. The cannon had hit an Astartes and had seriously injured him. Only superhuman physiology had saved his life.

But in its other hand the Xeno carried an ax, or at least a parody of it. It was like seeing one of the thick blades of the orks. But it was as big as an adult human.

Trevor checked its lethality by flying away because of the tremendous impact it had given to his shield. By the time he got up he realized that his shield had been split in two. A junior commissar had tried to attack in a similar way, but had been kicked and sent to fly in the same way. He had seen the young man run, clear anger on his face. Trevor could only theorize, but only one ring could be seen on the right of it.

A missile flew straight to the beast. A rose of fire arose in its chest, but this didn't kill it, it just angered the monster. The rocket was only fragmentation, and for a monster like this you would need at least one Krak weapon.

"We can't call artillery, we'd end up in crossfire too." Diabel said who gave orders to his clan. "Load all rocket launchers and grenades that you can. We will attack all at once. "

"Where the hell are the heavy weapons teams?!" the voice of someone who shouted in despair was heard. The beast fired again and a young imperial guard was busted into pieces, half of his torso fell on Trevor who struggled to maintain his composure while trying to remove the corpse from him.

The world boss turned the ax and split an Arbites in two that had been too close. He did another setback and beheaded another player trying to escape.

"Fire! Fire!" Mary said while haranguing her heavy machine guns to try to blind the Xeno with 15mm tracer rounds, she used her Skill [Inspiration I] and [litany of wrath] to send Buffs to the guards under her command, by raising the morale her guards could Improve shots and hold the line. More grenades were thrown and only enraged it even more. "Fire! May the Xenos hear the roar of your weapons! Let the enemies of man tremble, for today is their end! No Mercy! No Pity! For the emperor!"

A Sororitas who had tried to approach was kicked and sent several meters. Near Trevor, another Sororita had managed to catch her, but she had noticed how her armor had broken. It was an acolyte armor after all, an initiate could not have the same advantages of a complete battle sister.

The sister who had caught her took her to the rear, where doctors and sisters hospitaliers went out of their way to save as many lives as they could. It was better that way, the weight of the armor bordered half a ton, an unarmored human would not have been able to carry it.

Trevor moved to approach a junior commissar who was trying to find an opening to attack. "Kazuto." Trevor said. "Buff the guards with heavy weapons. Let them concentrate their fire on the boss."

But Kazuto did not seem to respond, there was a reaction to that idea, as if he were anathema to him.

"What happens? Why do not you do it?"

"..."

"Kazuto!"

"I don't know how, ok?" said the junior commissar annoyed. "I can't find the necessary words."

Trevor understood, after all, it seemed that this boy was somewhat introverted. "Just say anything." Continued Trevor. "For the emperor or Death to heretics and aliens. The ability is activated anyway. You only need a minimum of one sentence. "

But the young man seemed to doubt, Trevor saw him and decided to leave him, he hoped he would serve better in the front.

Trevor watched Asuna move quickly. For something she boasted of her speed in ALO, and although she would not have such speed, at least on the first level, she had some talent. Maybe it was a skill, he didn't know precisely.

She was joined by Kazuto who had seen an opportunity and capitalized on it. After brutally killing half a dozen players, he had lowered his raw blade so quickly that it had become stuck on the ground.

Both ran, both advanced. As if following the flow of the battle, perfectly coordinated. Trevor had to admit that both could make a very good team.

However, the enemy was different, a world leader of level 100, players of less than level 20 was nothing more than small inconvenience against one of these. And Trevor knew it, and it was no surprise to him when he saw them fly back, an effect caused by a discharge from the beast's cannon that they had narrowly avoided.

Kazuto was about to get up and try again, but Trevor stopped him, it was impossible, he understood.

The Astartes fired their heavy weapons, so he wished some of them had a bolter, but given their levels the most they could equate were heavy machine guns. According to the Beta, the Astartes would get their favorite weapons once they left the planet, collected by their own chapters. But for now that was all they had.

Another missile reached the boss Kobul hitting it in the arm, the Xeno growled, even if it couldn't kill it, it was really painful. The flesh was burning, the constant damage seemed to be hurting him.

Suddenly someone shouted, it was Diabel. "Everybody! Get out of here!" He said as he retired and urged his group to retreat. Between curses and screams, he tried to maintain an orderly withdrawal. "Heavy weapons! Keep suppression fire! Don't let him move! "

The teams obeyed and concentrated their fire. The players took advantage of this gap, were ordering a withdrawal, and although the Astartes felt insulted, they decided to pay attention.

"What's going on?" Trevor shouted as he approached Diabel behind a piece of wall.

"Artillery" he said. "They managed to position themselves, it's going to rain fire."

Trevor nodded and called his group, he urged them to run faster and take cover. Mary did the same, but she was busy with heavy weapons. The machine guns were still spitting fire, trying to keep the boss in place, but when it saw that they was retiring it had begun to move slowly towards them.

A player, Jones, who was carrying a long-range Vox team began to coordinate. "Hammer, fire concentrated in quadrant 025-059-030 ..."

A beep is what started, and Gil turned to see the mortar shells. His transhuman senses allowed him to see the projectiles as if these were in slow motion, leaving a trail of steam behind them.

Dozens of rounds hit an area of fifty square meters, by that time the place had already cleared and only the heavy machine guns were still firing at the xeno that had already advanced a good stretch towards them. A few meters away the shells fell, concrete and earth jumped into the air when pulverized. Jones spoke again for the Vox.

"Hammer, increase another ten."

As a master in an orchestra whose instrument is war. His will became true when more projectiles fell right on the xeno boss. Dozens and dozens of mortars fell on it, dozens and dozens exploded around it. Ten minutes of concentrated fire, which was the last thing they could give. The dust rose next to the fire that danced with the earth. It had to die, surviving this was impossible.

Once the bombing was over they waited for the dust to come down, for everything to settle again. There was still a thick smoke that didn't seem to want to be removed.

"We got it!" Exclaimed Klein happily. "We got the bastard!"

"Wait." Ordered Diabel. "Wait for the smoke to clear."

But when the smoke disappeared none of them wanted to believe what was in front of their eyes.

It was still there.

The bastard was still there.

Wounded, but not dejected.

Covered in blood, but still standing.

The arm where its cannon had been was no longer, instead only a piece of burned and crushed meat. It must have used it to protect itself, Trevor wanted to believe that, because there was no other explanation.

The kobul chief dusted itself off.

And roared defiant.

[X]

They both ran as fast as they could. Behind them the servitor carried the Krak grenade box they had found. Luke could only let this irony. Was it the same as those RPG games? Had they simply found something to eliminate the boss? Even if it was, he doubted it was true, the bombardment had begun and howitzers flew over them. Trevor should definitely be there, he was part of the vanguard.

Sena was behind him, lasrifle in hand. Suddenly she brought her hand to the communicator in her ear. After a pause, she spoke to him. "Sinon sees us. Thirty ahead."

After several meters Luke could see the aquamarine of her hair, as well as her long-las rifle smoking with a fresh shot. She was on what was left of a wooden watchtower, about six meters high.

"Sinon! What do you see?" Called her Luke.

"Only the boss is left." She answered. "Damn Xeno doesn't die so easily. It was in the middle a bombing and still stands."

"Do you see Trevor?" Sena asked.

"I saw him, still alive. But there is also bad news. Bilo died, broken by that damn one."

Bilo was an Arbites that had been recruited by Trevor. He had originally been a student from somewhere in Europe. He had lent himself to the support of the vanguard along with two NPCs. Luke already doubted his ability to keep calm under pressure, with this it was already more than obvious that he could not simply rely on someone's words alone.

"How many casualties in total?" Luke asked not wanting to know the answer, but that was necessary.

"Almost all NPCs are dead. I have counted two hundred and fifty-nine casualties since the assault began. For sure there are more."

It was with more reason that they had to hurry and deliver the grenades. They waved Sinon and headed for the boss who refused to die.

[X]

The beast roared, moving its cleaver from one side to another. Such was its strength that it ended killing three guardsmen with just one swing. How could they be able to take down such a thing? Trevor thought for himself. Grenades, mortars, it even had taken a rocket launcher to the face. How much till this damned xeno could be killed?

Klein didn't know, Klein didn't wanted to know. His only focus was to keep firing, keep holding the line. He and a dozen more guardsmen were just doing the same. Red beams cutting the air, lasbolts trying to pierce the iron flesh of the Kobul king.

Her leader kept firing, firing and speaking. Her voice chanting litanies of hate, courage and faith. Klein didn't know why, but he could feel her voice filling him with determination and keeping the fear at bay. His fire was more accurate, his grip more firm, he felt hate, hate against the creature, hate because it was killing people. He changed the power shell which had been expended from his lasgun. He had 2 left, soon he would be depleted.

Didn't matter, had to keep firing until that damned boss is dead. For his life, for the lives the monster had already taken. Revenge was the only thing in his mind right now.

Ana didn't bothered to look at the body of her dead subordinate on the ground. She had to keep moving her mouth. Her skills were the only thing keeping her men from running away. How many had died by now? No, that didn't matter, she had to focus, keep active her [Inspiration I], hold it. As long as she was there they still could fight.

"Ours is the Glory! Ours is the courage! By the emperor's grace we hold the line! Show no mercy to the Xeno for they are anathema to pity. We shall bring the emperor's fury upon this scum!"

Yet, something interrupted her. An object, small, yet deadly known for her. It came from behind her and felt somewhere close to one of the legs of the world boss.

Its leg shattered, like a can being torn apart. Flesh and bone escaped while the Xeno roared in pain and fury.

Mary understood, that was krak grenade. The powerful implosive effect from a krak grenade would be lethal for any armored objective. In this case, the boss.

[X]

Trevor smiled at seeing the beast crumble under its own leg. The impact had left exposed the bone and flesh of the leg. They now had a chance with krak grenades.

He turned, trying to see who had launched de grenade. They still hadn't finished and they would need more than one to slay the monster. And he saw Sena with a belt filled with krak grenades over her shoulder. She approached fast, and unattached the grenades urging the ones close to her to take one to use against the Boss.

Trevor approached to her. "You are such a blessed image to my sore eyes."

Sena smiled proudly and giggled winking at him. She threw him an object, Trevor caught it without much problem. It was a grenade, not just that, it was a krak grenade!

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"Luck." She said. "He is such a lucky charm."

"Diabel!" Trevor called the other crusader while throwing the grenade. "Krak grenades! Make your boys keep the bastard busy while we get close!"

Diabel nodded, new determination drawn in his face. A new equation had just balanced things out. Yet, there was something he still wanted to test, he gave orders, but these were different. He wanted to make sure…

He ran, closing his distance to the kobul king. This one still roaring in pain for its wound. Diabel pulled the pin and threw the grenade. The device landed a few centimeters further than 5 metters from the beast. Diabel grinned while preparing his sword to attack in a wide seep. Yet, there was something he had forgotten, well, something he didn't knew.

Krak grenades were such explosives that you would never find on earth's actual time. A grenade with an implosive effect which doesn't use fragments and yet is capable of shatter some of the strongest metals known. Perfect tank killer. Military in the real world would do everything just to get one of these.

However, krak grenades had some downsides.

The blast's effective range was only five meters, using it against a crowd would be a really bad idea since wouldn't have the devastating wide antipersonnel effect area from a frag grenade. It also was very limited. The implosive blast would annihilate anything inside its effect area

And thus, didn't know about the range.

And when certain commissar shouted in warning. It was too late.

Blood was spilled. Along with entrails and guts as the body of the crusader fell, throw away by the same cleaver from the Kobul king.

"Keep firing! Don't stop!" Shouted Mary as four Astartes formed up in front of the fallen crusader. Trevor ran too, he carried a stim pack, adrenaline and pain killers. It wouldn't stop the bleeding but it was better than nothing until the hospitalier arrived.

"No…" Said his fellow crusader. "Keep that for you…"

"Bullshit. Don't act like a damn Moral hero! We need you alive, being alive you are more useful for us." Trevor Said as he applied the adrenaline preventing his heart from stopping. Soon the heavy footsteps from a power armor was heard, along with a hospitalier carrying a bag with numerous vials and tools. Yet, her real tool was attached to her right arm. A version of the nartecium used by the Astartes. Each finger had different tools, one of these a micro weaver, designed to close deep flesh wounds.

"Calm down, boy. Doc is here, just keep breathing and don't close your eyes, okay? I'm going to patch you and you will be alright in no time." She said with the utmost calm voice possible as she applied numerous medicines while injecting stimulants.

She weaved his wounds and reattached his intestines as best as she could. Yet, she couldn't replenish the blood lost. She then lifted him with her arms while retreating with the Astartes covering her while firing at the beast.

Yet, there was another Sororitas who had come too. She got close to Trevor, her hand trying to reach him.

"He will live." Said this. "But I won't let his courage wash away. He knew there was a prize for slaying the boss, yet, he still wants to escape from this world as much as I am."

"I will follow you." She said. "With those grenades now we can win."

Another steps appeared before her. A certain commissar readying his sword gave him a nod. "They Died For Us!" He shouted. "Don't let their sacrifice be in vain!" As [Inspiration I] raised numerous stats from the players behind them did too. They raised their voices, reveling in the fury and pain. Those who had lose comrades and loved ones screamed louder as their sorrow was turned into hate.

Trevor launched his grenade. And thus, the belly of the beast was shattered as its entrails dropped on the soil.

Yet, this would not yield. Ire consumed it as its instinct toke control of its conscience. His wounds didn't mattered, his intestines in the ground were nonexistent for it. It just wanted to kill, to take vengeance upon the one who had wounded it.

And thus it brought down its cleaver. Its objective was Trevor, it yearned for his blood. The metal connected and flesh was torn apart.

Yet, it didn't reached him. Yes, the blade teared flesh, but wasn't his.

However, Asuna was reached, yet her armor had stopped the hit which had cut enough to reach her skin. But even if she was a novitiate, she still was a sister of battle, she still had her power armor.

Such force behind the blow would have teared her apart. How was she still alive? Then Trevor realized. Somebody had tanked the blow too. He saw a bulky being behind him. Green armor, marks of reptiles adorning his power armor. An Astartes, a son of Vulkan had received a big part of the blow. Blood spilled from his broken armor, yet, Gil couldn't feel pain. Adrenaline bumped inside his systems as all his senses accelerated.

She gripped her teeth and grabbed the blade with her hands. She applied all the strength she still had and so the blade started to crumble and fragment. First there was a crack, then another. Until it was shattered by the power armored grip of her arms. Hands which were as shredded as the cleaver, blood was spilling from her hands, she couldn't grip any weapon now, yet it was worth, she had given them an opening.

The commissar launched himself. Blade ready and skill honed. Trevor had known him, and after a few spars both had reached the conclusion of Trevor being unable to defeat him in a duel, however, this was because he had not used a shield, and when he did, his ally couldn't be able to overwhelm his defense.

And so Kirigaya launched himself, arc after arc of cold steel moved from one side to the other spilling blood and scum from the Xeno beast. But this last wouldn't give up. Its fist tried to connect bone shattering blows. He didn't had any power armor, one hit would be more than enough to break all his bones and kill him. He had to play with speed to have an edge over his foe. His sword reached its belly, black icor escaping from the maw of flesh. Yet, one of the fist reached him. It merely grassed him, but the force was more than enough to break his arm and leg. He felt to the ground grunting in pain as he tried to escape.

The beast walked towards him, fits up and ready to batting to dust anything caught in its fury. The commissar merely searched for his back and pulled a gun, a snub pistol he was using now for the first time since the start of the battle. As the Xenos boss walked he fired, shot after shot… it was like throwing rocks at a Leman Russ.

However, his dead would wait. An object flied again, and he hear someone yell him to crouch, and he did. A thunder appeared in front of him as he feel the expansive wave vibrating his bones.

Another roar thundered again, yet this remarked pain and fear. The Kobul king was now on its kneels, its legs teared by the krak grenades. The beast kept howling in pain, and as this tried to move with its arms, Trevor fell on the monster.

Having pinned a grenade he attached it to his sword's tip. He had to deliver the explosive inside the beast. The blade acted as a tool to that end as its tip pierced through its guts. Trevor left the sword and separated from the xeno.

And after a few seconds the grenade imploded shredding the organs of the beast. Trevor avoided the implosion merely centimeters from him.

The boss was now finally dead.

Yet. There were just a few shouts of victory. For a big amount of players just stayed quiet while they finally realized the nightmare had finished. Some laughed, laughed in madness at finally grasping the reality. Some broke in tears as they just realized the friends they had lost. Some cried in joy as their lives had been spared.

Trevor fell on his knees, his hands grabbing the ash-like soil mixed with blood. His body feel exhausted, extremely so. In silence he prayed for still being alive. He noticed a girl cry and anguish over the half body of a dead commissar. She repeated his name again and again, like expecting that mentioning it would bring him back. He saw an Astartes carrying the body of a sister of battle whose armor had been rended apart and her blood was spilling from the cracks. The Astartes had no helm anymore. His features clearly in silent sorrow. The red of his armor hiding the blood plastered on it.

Corpses lined the ground. How many had died to manage this? How many had given their lives so they could keep breathing?

The remains of the boss started decaying. Dead in this place would mean your body being turned into dust in a few hours. An enemy's corpse would be the same until its body was broken apart like dried sand leaving only the spoils of battle. You could cut some trophy and this wouldn't be affected by this mechanic.

However, there was something between the dried flesh and bones. A dataslate appearing. It was the map, it was definitively the rest of it. They finally would be able to get out from this world. But there was something more there. From the corner of his eye Trevor noted something else, a metallic bright. Trevor pulled up, raising with him a weapon. A Hecatte pattern chainsword. The Adamantium teeth as new as just out from a forgeworld. Trevor gripped it between his fingers letting its six pounds rest on his arm. Pulling the trigger he heard the roaring of the motor and the machine spirit waking from its slumber.

He had now a new weapon. And one he had got with the blood of others.

[X]

**Attention here.**

**This part contains explicit depiction of violence and adult content. If you want to continue you are now warned. Seriously. I think I overdid a bit here. But it's chaos, so…**

Segmentum Pacificus. Unknown world.

She watched her whimper and moan. As the knife cut her belly. Had not been enough to rape her womb? And now they were doing a new hole. The cultist did new incisions and started his maddened act. She watched in tears as seeing her mother being raped in such a horrid way. Why were they doing this? What had they done to deserve such a fate? Why had they burned the village to such degree? Her house was in flames, alongside with the corpses of many villagers. Smoke covered the sky, a red sun didn't help with the light.

A woman with black body armor, a traitor of the imperial guard. She laughed while a boy, which eyes had been gauged out, walked in darkness as directing towards a pit were the body of the dead had been thrown away. When the boy was on the verge, she pulled a laspistol and fired at him in the stomach. She would watch him bleed until death, yet that was not really an option, she pulled again the trigger and the lasbolt decapitated the boy at hitting him in the neck. She laughed again, and gone for the next child with knife in her hands.

A young teen almost reaching adulthood cried in pain and shame as her dress was ripped off, her arms were immobilized by ropes and her body disposed into a humiliating position. They now could see every crane and nook of her butt. One of them reached her, and his hands were direct to her intimal place.

"Hey, Adumael. How long is this going to take? I'm getting bored. I wanna kill some real people. These aren't even alive."

"Patience, Xaxa." Responded Adumael irritated as he was interrupted from his concentration. "This ritual requires plenty of blood and sacrifices. Make sure to cut her head when you are done by the way. Raping is not necessary, we are not calling Slaanesh this time."

"Yeah, but we are _bored_. How many towns have we sacrificed already? And even so, not all of them gave us what we were looking for. We have been doing this for a month since we got out from that pathetic planet. How many more pups do we need?"

"Enough if we want to take down the boss of this world. Now, keep with your business while I finish with the runes."

"Whatever… Hey Xophia. Give some of that thing you got from that one quest."

The woman in black body armor raised a brow to the member in her guild. "Eh? How many times are you going to keep asking me for it, you monkey in heat? I also need this."

"C'mon just a drop. This bitch here is just too frivolous."

"That is because your dick is just pathetic. That little shit didn't even give me some sensation. Needing this is proof of how bad you are."

"Hey, that hurts! C'mon just give me some, I will pay you double this time."

Xophia just scowled and opened her bag. She threw a flask towards Xaxa. The flask contained a viscous purple fluid. She had got it in certain event about desecrating some prostitutes in a hive city in the past planet. Not that she were to tell them that, favors come good for her.

Xaxa opened the flask and let one drop pour on the girl's mouth under him. After one second she stopped struggling and embraced him. Lewd words came from her mouth and her tongue tried to search for his mouth.

What he had used was a [Tear of thirst] A rare item which would seduce and charm enemies or NPC under certain levels. Pain would be turned into pleasure, such as an insane amount of desire.

And so he threw the flask back. "At least don't do it in the fucking street, you sickened bastard." He heard her say. He went to his business, making sure to satisfy his lust and hers. However, as he was about to finish, he reached for a chainknife planted in the earth. He secured the NPC by her hair and accelerating the chainknife he started sawing her neck. Skin, flesh and bone flew around showering his face. Yet, her face was of ecstasy, the drug making all the sensations in her brain as utter bliss as the teeth of the chain weapons killed her in such visceral way.

"Nothing beats this squeeze." He said as he raised her head. He then threw it on the already big pile behind him.

"How many times are you gonna keep messing around? Xaxa." He heard a voice speak behind him. At turning he found the figure of one of his comrades.

"PoH. You finally arrived. What toke you so long?"

"We had to gather so many items and spoils. We were short of arms, maybe if someone had gone with us we would have finished faster."

Laughing at the sarcasm, Xaxa just responded. "Johnny Black told me to stay here to help Adumael with the sacrifices."

"And that is why you started raping the NPC? What if you hijack the ritual, dumbass?"

"Hey, Adumael said it was ok as long as I decapitate them. No big deal."

"Whatever. Come and help here. We got some supplies along with some items." He then motioned to behind him. "Hey! Hurry up, you worm! I don't have all day."

And so a procession passed. Slaves. NPC which had been captured. They were useful to manage simple and troublesome task. Such as also disposable units and pleasure servers. PoH in particular had grown fond on them, Keeping dozens for him.

There were ten slaves marching behind him. Two of them pulling a wood car which had been filled to the brim with materials such as supplies, weapons, ammo and even gold and gems. All this collected worth more than six dozens of towns pillaged and stolen. The two men struggled while pulling the heavy car. Their bodies now little more than a dried skin. The others carried bags filled with money and clothes, diverse things which couldn't be carried on the wagon for being too heavy.

One of the slaves fell to the ground. His face hit by the weigh he carried. He was barely breathing, an old man on the verge of death.

"You should feed your slaves more often. You have so many you end wasting resources." Said Xophia.

"They are just disposable meatbags." Replied Poh at the moment of pulling a stubgun and firing at the almost dead man. "It's not even worth to waste power packs on them, a simple bullet is enough." He called another slave, and they keep walking as they carried the bags towards a chimera over the plaza.

"Anyway. How long until we are done here?"

"Adumael said he was almost done."

And as Xophia spoke this, something happened.

Blood. So much blood.

All the blood which had been spilled over the earth was drafted away and condensate in one site. A bubble of pure blood was formed inside the circle of runes as the flesh of the heads was burned in hell fire. Bare skulls formed, and these disappeared in thin air.

A howl was heard. And so the blood combusted by itself. Warp fire as red as blood appeared, taking the form of something far more sinister. A being surged from this hellish ritual, quadrupedal, horns and a jaw filled of iron teeth. Its hide as if the skin has been peeled away and a bizarre and horrifying being was left.

"Flesh Hound. One of Khorne's daemonic beasts…" Told Adumael. He walked over the girl which had witnessed her mother being ravaged. His fingers were more than enough to crush her head, just a bit of strength would be necessary to kill her. Yet, the chaos Astartes applied the precise amount of force to the power armor and her body was taken from her head as Adumael carried her close to the beast.

The NPC girl trembled, as her bladder lost control staining her dress. Once close to the flesh hound the beast stirred its burning tongue scarred her skin. She cried and screamed, calling the Emperor to save her.

"Fool… He is not here." Said the Astartes.

And the flesh hound opened its maw. Devouring the girl.

**[X]**

**Well, the explicit content is over for now.**

**[X]**

He raised his hand while kneeling, and his hand closed the still opened eyes of the corpse under him. The broken body of a youngster lied before him. His legs pulverized by the Kobul King's cannon. He had been bleeding off, medicae had not arrived in time.

"Thus his soul may march to the God-emperor's side. May His mercy fall upon the soul of this young." The preacher set the young guardsmen arms into the Aquila signal. He then sprayed him with holy water.

This preacher was just a NPC, yet, surprisingly, his AI had permitted him to communicate with players and interact with the corpses. Since the end of the battle he had come and started doing his work, it felt as some little mercy from this death game. Some were conflicted at being part of other beliefs. But it was nothing worrisome.

However, the amount of dead and wounded invaded his view. Such a depressive and horrible place. The count of casualities had arrived, at least the first one. Two thousands and sixty three dead. One hundred and fifty two wounded. All of them were players, the amount of NPC died summed more than triple of this amount.

Many players were also carrying the toll of guilt with a lingering of naïve egoism thinking 'better them than me'. However, many more cried at finally grasping the reality of calmness. With the adrenaline finally worn out the shock of losing friends and loved ones struck like a truck. A girl cried over the corpses of several guardsmen, Sororitas trying to console her. Yet without many results.

He pulled out his data slate. Checking his stats he found some news about this event. The map had been unlocked and now three new planets were presented as options to travel. Relatively close, yet the warp could play hard. He wondered how warp travel would interact with players. The third world was a feudal world, supposedly with a small human settlement there. But it was a good start. Yet, he knew more and more players would direct there. A feudal world may be a good opportunity.

He then checked his new chainsword. A brutal weapon designed to make a brutal wound. The 'blade' was one inch thick, diamond hardened teeth as brilliant as new. All impulse by a miniaturized motor feed by promethium.

"Ya are looking way too gloomy for a new weapon nobody has right now." A cheerful voice was heard at the same time he felt a soft pair of big and soft things at his back. "If you want you can give it to me. I wouldn't mind such prize. Or maybe…" She leaned more onto him, pressing her breast further over him, he had to pump more force on his knee to don't fall. "I can help you more in other… ways?"

He smirked, amused by such antics. He knew she wouldn't be that easy. At least not again. "Maybe later, Sena." He answered. "There are things we still must do. Where is Luck?"

"He went with the other cogboys to speak about machines and interchange some info. Commanders are also coming this way, things are getting serious over there."

"And the others?"

"Sinon is still back there, cleaning her long-las. The twins are searching for more Kobuls. Mikon just went with the medicae, she was throwing a lot. Phaul, Diane, Pickmich and Stauphel are with the Hospitalier ward."

"At least I'm relieved we didn't lose them too." Spoke Trevor with a lingering guilt.

"It was not your fault." She tried to console him. "He followed you despite your warnings."

"I know. But that doesn't disappear the losing of a comrade."

"A-anyway. Finally can get out from this planet."

"Yes, we are, Sena. The feudal world seems pretty good for a start."

"Oh! Are we going there then?"

"Well, we still need to talk it with the others, but I think that after all this they would prefer something less turbulent than a death world."

They heard heavy footsteps. Asuna was closing. Next to her was that commissar, his cape clung from his side as his sword was guarded.

"How are you feeling?" Trevor asked at the time inspecting the tear in her armor.

"You don't have to worry." She said. She had noticed something amiss. It was a victory, yet, he was gloom. Like If a bigger weigh had been just put over his shoulders. "The healing and auto reparation of the armor already kicked in. I'm ok."

"Nothing bad here." The commissar informed. "Just some small brushes. But I will live."

Trevor smiled. A small smile in his face. "I'm glad." He said. "How is Diabel, by the way?"

"The sisters declared him out of danger. Thought he is still as sleep as a log." Said Kirito.

"Thanks the emperor." Trevor arose. Yet, Kirito still had a question for him. "May I see that sword?" He asked.

"Sure." He handed the chainsword. The Commissar inspected it closely. "Had never seen one like this. The blade is totally different from a common sword."

"These are mainly done for visceral wounds. Make sure you kill your enemy with the first swing, or at least that is how it is supposed to work."

"Kinda different from what I'm used to." Kirito mentioned. I'd prefer a classic anyway.

"Being a commissar you will have to use this sooner or later. It's the most common kind of sword for commissars." Responded Trevor while turning off the sword engine.

"What will you do now?" Spoke Asuna. "I will be joining the order of the Sacred Rose. What about you?"

"I guess I will return to my clan." Trevor Answered.

"And I will take the next fly to the next world. I also got tired of this."

Thus. Each one of them toke a different pathway.

[X]

The conscience returned to him. A signal telling him he was back into reality. His body ached while his mind acclimated again to the slower real world time. The STL muted and slept for the third time now.

"Welcome back." A voice welcomed him. A plain guy greeted him, glasses and blond hair. And one of his most trusted workers and friends. "How are things going?"

He kept silent for a moment, then shrugged and stood up. His sandals muted his step accustoming to walk again, even if connected for a few hours, would left disoriented almost anyone.

"How much time was I there?" He said while holding his head with his hand, his brain was still aching.

"Seven hours and eleven minutes." Higa Takeru answered. "It's 02:12 AM Dinner is already cold."

"Right… How are the Fluctlights?"

"They are doing just fine. The ten thousands of them are working nicely. Thought, I'm concerned. They are dying and reappearing again. Their descendants are helping, but even so, isn't this universe a little too dangerous for them to grow?"

His boss shrugged. "If we want to use them for their original purpose, there is no other universe where war is more prevalent. They will learn, and adapt… that is why we have three hundred thousand humans connected so they can help them to grow. They finally got out from the planet, soon they will reach world after world."

He walked away, his stomach was anxious.

Kayaba Akihiko disappeared into the entrails of the Ocean Turtle.

[X]

Well, I finished it before March… In a way.

I think I may have overdid this time. But I think it's important to flesh out these kind of scenes so the lector can get a better taste.

This time I decided to write all in English instead of translating it from Spanish. I still needs to work in It. It's not that easy to change from Spanish where I can use lyric and prose with that much freedom.

So to get the plot more understandable.

They are, or were, in a world with low tech and resources. Astartes and sisters here don't have access to bolters until they are out. This is because these may be OP and balance things a bit.

Regarding Knights and Titan players. Yeah, they may seen OP. But take in account a Titan player would need, at least, reach level 60 just to reach a Warhound titan, if this doesn't want to wait until level 90 as Moderatii to get an imperator. And for that time, a guardsmen player would already be a general with multiple regiments and even access to super heavy tanks.

I don't know if I managed the characters as per canon, especially Asuna. I don't care for Kirito since he didn't have much personality to begin with…

Now I will continue with the last New world New Galaxy chapter, and probably making a continuation where Ainz and Ahriman changes places. I think it would be funny. At least I think I can try a one-shot.

Well, until next time. Leave a review if you like it, please.


End file.
